45-year-old man trampled to death by elephant in Assam: Officials

Forest officials aware of the matter said that the body of the deceased, identified as Subhash Chandra Rabha, was recovered on Sunday morning.

Silchar: A 45-year-old man was allegedly trampled to death by a wild elephant in Assam’s Goalpara district on Saturday. Forest officials aware of the matter said that the body of the deceased, identified as Subhash Chandra Rabha, was recovered on Sunday morning.

(Representative Photo)

“The dead body has been sent for postmortem and we are talking to the locals about it,” forest officials said.

Rabha was a resident of Panditpara village, under Rangjuli Police Station.

According to the locals, Rabha had gone for a walk around 2am when a wild elephant suddenly attacked him. The elephant dragged to a nearby village and trampled him to death,” locals said.

The locals informed the police and forest officials about the incident, following which a team of forest guards reached the spot and recovered Rabha’s body in the early hours of Sunday.

The locals also accused the forest department of ignoring the man-elephant conflict in the area. “We seek a permanent solution to prevent further tragedies. We live in fear but we don’t have anyone who can come up with a solution,” said a resident.

In the last two years, several wild elephants have died in Assam due to electrocution, and according to the forest officials, most of the cases have taken place as locals used live electric wires near their houses to prevent elephant movements.

On Friday, the carcass of an adult elephant was found in the Pengaree area of Tinsukia district, but the cause of death was unknown.