NILGIRIS: Six temporary forest staff were injured after a protest sparked by the death of a man in a wild elephant attack turned violent in Gudalur’s O-Valley on Saturday night.
Protesters also attacked police personnel and pelted stones at a forest department vehicle, sources said. Two people were arrested and police are searching for four others.
The tension arose after a 45-year-old man was trampled to death by a wild elephant at Arottuparai in O-Valley Panchayat of the Gudalur forest division in Nilgiris district. The deceased was identified as T Kalaiselvan, a resident of Fourth Division, O-Valley Estate.
Around 8.45 pm, Kalaiselvan went to switch on a motor pump to fetch water for cooking ‘annadhanam’. He was part of a group preparing the food for a Vinayakar temple festival in the locality.
According to sources, the elephant, which was grazing in the nearby bushes, suddenly attacked Kalaiselvan, killing him on the spot. Neighbours, who heard his screams, rushed to the area and chased the animal away.
Subsequently, residents gathered near Kalaiselvan’s body and staged a protest, accusing the forest department of failing to take action to prevent human-animal conflict in the region. They refused to allow the department staff to retrieve the body for postmortem.
‘10 staff engaged to stop man-elephant conflict’
The protest soon turned violent when some local residents attacked the forest staff, sources said. Six temporary staff sustained injuries and are undergoing treatment at government hospitals in Gudalur and Udhagamandalam.
One of them, Rajesh (50), suffered a hand fracture. “He (Rajesh) was injured in his stomach as well, leading to health complications. Doctors have advised him to take rest,” an official said. The protesters allegedly also tore off the insignia of DSP Vasanthakumar and the shirt buttons of a few police personnel, who were at the spot.
Accusing the forest officials of restricting the entry of building materials through the O-Valley checkpost, they also pelted stones at a department vehicle, damaging its windshield, sources added.
“The protest was called off around 3 am on Sunday after we assured to take steps to prevent such incidents in the future. We have engaged 10 staff to prevent further escalation of human-elephant conflicts in the region,” a forest department official said.
The New Hope police have registered a case under multiple BNS sections in connection with the incident. Two persons, identified as K Arumugam (40) and C Manikandan (29) of Bharathi Nagar in Arottuparai, have been arrested, and a search is under way for four others. Kalaiselvan’s body was taken to Gudalur GH for postmortem examination and handed over to his family on Sunday afternoon. An initial compensation of Rs 50,000 was provided to the bereaved family, the official added.