THOOTHUKUDI: A 45-year-old mahout and his relative were trampled to death by the Tiruchendur Murugan temple elephant while taking pictures with the animal using a mobile phone on Monday. The mahout, Udhayakumar of Tiruchendur, was the caretaker of the elephant for over two decades and the animal had not shown any aggressive behaviour in the past, temple authorities said.
Police said the mahout and his relative, Sisubalan (55) of Palukal in Kanniyakumari, were taking pictures standing next to the 26-year-old female elephant Deivanai at its shelter on the temple premises when the attack happened.
Sources said Sisubalan patted the elephant’s trunk, which made the animal aggressive and it lifted him with its trunk and threw him to the ground. Udhayakumar, who came to his relative’s rescue, was smashed against the wall and was crushed to death on the spot, police said. Sisubalan died a few minutes later.
Temple police and forest officials sent the bodies to the Tiruchendur GH for postmortem. Sources said Udhayakumar’s father was also a mahout. Police have registered a case and initiated an investigation.
Speaking to TNIE, District Forest Officer (DFO) Revathi Raman said a six-member team, comprising veterinarians, has been deployed to monitor the health and behaviour of the elephant. “The attack is a sudden provocation, and it is hard to ascertain the cause. The elephant will be observed for a certain period,” he said.
Previously, an elephant at the Tiruchendur temple had attacked its mahout in 1992, and another elephant, Shanthi had attacked her mahout in 2001. In both incidents, the mahouts had escaped with injuries, temple sources said.