LUCKNOW: An elephant went berserk and trampled to death two women and a child during a religious event in Gorakhpur on Thursday.
According to the local sources, the jumbo ran amok during a yagya ceremony held at Mohammadpur Mafi village of Jagatbela under Chitwa Tal police station limits of Gorakhpur.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the incident and announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the next of kin of the victims.
The sources claimed that in Mohammadpur Mafi village, the yagya of Shri Lakshmi Narayan was planned from February 16 to 24. On the first day of the event, a Kalash Yatra had to be taken out and two elephants were called in to take part in the yatra. Suddenly, one of the elephants, which was brought at the yagya site, got annoyed and started running amok. The jumbo got aggressive by the noise and people taking selfies.
The pachyderm while going out of the control of his owner, lifted two women in its trunk, tossed and flumped them on the ground, and trampled them to death.
Those killed by the jumbo were identified as Kanti Devi, 55, Kaushalya Devi, 50, and her four-year-old grandson named Krishna. While creating havoc at the yagya site, the jumbo left scores of devotees, who had thronged the place in hundreds, injured.
On getting the information, the local police station in-charge Jayant Kumar Singh, and CO Kampiereganj, Shaymdeo Bind rushed to the spot along with a team of forest officials to tame the jumbo.
However, by the time the teams reached the incident site, the jumbo had traversed to the fields. Later, the forest team succeeded in taming it by giving a shot of tranquilizer, said the sources.
Villagers say preparations were on before taking the Yagya Kalash Yatra out. The elephant was also brought to join the procession. Around 1,000 people were present at the site of the incident.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the incident and announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the next of kin of the victims.