CHITTOOR: A wild elephant trampled a farmer to death when he was asleep in his farm at Indira Nagar in Palamaner mandal of Chittoor district early on Wednesday. The deceased has been identified as Yanadi Subrahmanyam, a farmer from Indiranagar. An elephant reportedly trampled him while he was asleep in his field, leading to his immediate death.
It has been learnt that villagers could not retrieve his body for quite some time as a herd of wild tuskers was moving in the vicinity. They informed the police and the forest officials regarding the incident. They rushed to the spot and managed to retrieve Subrahmanyam’s body from the field. The incident, third in the district in the last two months, triggered the villagers who staged a sit-in on the highway. They alleged that the forest department had failed to take action despite several elephants foraying into the district from the forests of the neighbouring states.
They demanded the district collector to look into the issue. However, the protestors dispersed after police personnel pacified them. On March 31, a herd of elephants trampled a 52-year-old farmer to death at Thanjavur village in Yadamari mandal. Another 38-year-old farmer was killed in an attack by another herd at a remote village in Sadum mandal.