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Three killed by wild elephant in three villages of Chaibasa, two injured
According to the official records, six persons have died in the Chandil forest range between October 17, 2024 and December 27, 2025
Three villagers were trampled to death by a wild elephant while two other women were seriously injured at three different villages within six hours adjacent to district headquarters of Chaibasa in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand, people familiar with the matter said on Saturday.
“Three persons have been killed in an elephant attack late Thursday night. Two of the deceased were from Bandijhari and Birsinghhatu villages under the Tonto Block and the other deceased was from Roro village under the Chaibasa Sadar Block. Families of all the three deceased have been given instant relief of ₹ 10, 000 each. The remaining compensation fixed by the government will be given to them after the paperwork. A stray wild elephant has been roaming in the area who has trampled these persons, including a farmer, to death,” Jitendra Singh, Chaibasa forest range officer, told the media on Saturday.
The deceased have been identified as 35-year-old Mangal Singh Hembram of Bandijhari village, 55-year-old Hurdup Bahanda of Birsinghhatu village under the Tonto Block and 57-year-old Vishnu Sundi of Roro village under the Chaibasa Sadar Block.
Two other women - Mani Kuntia and Sukhmati Bahanda, wife of deceased Hurdup Bahanda, of Birsinghhatu village were also seriously injured in the attack by the wild elephant. Both have been undergoing treatment in the Chaibasa Sadar Hospital (CSH).
Meanwhile, a herd of 13 wild elephants wrecked havoc in Kukru Block under the Chandil forest range of Seraikela-Kharsawan district late Friday evening demolished houses, are up 10 quintals of rice and damaged crops in Sirum village. They also trampled around two quintals of tomatoes.
According to the official records, six persons have died in the Chandil forest range between October 17, 2024 and December 27, 2025. Two herd of 25 wild elephants criss-crossing between West Bengal and Jharkhand have been roaming in the Chandil range for past couple of months.
“The herd broke down the rice machine and damaged the potato crops in the farms of Sonaram Mahato and Durga Charan Mahato. We had to chase the elephants with torches, drums, firecrackers as the quick response teams (QRTs) of the forest department arrived late. The herd is presently staying inside the jungle, 1 km away from the village. Forest officials have been camping here too,” Gouranga Mahato, a villager of Sirum village, said.
“We received 503 applications of house and crop damage by elephants last year and have paid ₹94 lakh compensation against those applications. During the year, the wild elephants damaged 38 houses for ₹1.30 lakh has been given to each of the affected persons. 458 claims of crop damage have also been paid at the rate of ₹2000 per acre while families of two deceased in December have been paid ₹2 lakh each and ₹25,000 to ₹1 lakh to five injured persons,” Shashi Prakash Ranjan, Chandil ranger, said
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