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Man dies in wild elephant’s attack; panic grips outskirts of Ranchi
Ranchi divisional forest officer (DFO) Srikant Verma confirmed the incident and said that compensation had been provided to the victim’s family.
A wild elephant strayed into residential neighbourhoods in the Ratu area on the outskirts of Ranchi on Monday, leaving one man dead and another injured. The incident triggered widespread panic among local residents as forest officials struggled to contain the animal.
The elephant was first spotted early Monday morning near Chittarkota Patra village. It later moved into Pali and Chitrakota villages under the jurisdiction of the Ratu police station.
Ranchi divisional forest officer (DFO) Srikant Verma confirmed the incident and said that compensation had been provided to the victim’s family.
“At 10 am, we received information that a single elephant was roaming in the forest area of Chitrakota in Ratu. A local villager, Subodh Khalkho, 45, died following an accidental encounter with the elephant in the forest. Forest personnel reached the site at noon and provided an ex-gratia amount of ₹25,000 to his family. A final investigation is being conducted through Ratu police station,” Verma said.
This marks the second time in four days that a wild elephant has entered residential areas in the region. Locals suspected it was the same elephant that had strayed into the Hawai Nagar area of Hatia last Friday.
However, Verma clarified that it was a different animal. “No, it’s another elephant. The Hawai Nagar one is near Khunti town today,” he said.
A forest official in Khunti confirmed that the elephant seen there had fallen into a well but was successfully rescued.
“The elephant, which had been wandering through residential areas near the Khunti district headquarters, fell into an open well belonging to a local resident, Dimba Lohar, around noon. The forest department team, along with the local administration, rescued the animal by creating a sloped ramp by excavating soil on one side of the well using JCB machines. The operation was completed within two hours,” the official said.
Specialised teams have been deployed to track the elephant’s movements.
“A drive to safely guide the animal back into the forest has been launched. Meanwhile, residents have been advised to remain indoors and avoid provoking or approaching the elephant while the operation is underway,” another official said.
With Monday’s incident, the number of human fatalities in human-elephant conflict in Jharkhand this year has risen to 28.
“A rogue male elephant killed 20 people in the Chaibasa and Kolhan forest areas of West Singhbhum district in January. In February, a herd of wild elephants killed seven people in Hazaribagh district, including four members of a single family in one village. On Monday, Subodh Khalkho was killed in the Ratu area of Ranchi,” a forest department official said.
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