Sundergarh: Tension erupted in Jakeikala village near Bonai in Sundergarh district after villagers assaulted forest department personnel following the death of a local due to an elephant attack on Saturday.
Dharanidhar Patra, a resident of Jakeikala village, encountered the tusker while he was outside his home to attend to nature’s call. The tusker crushed him to the ground with its trunk. He was immediately rushed to Bonai Hospital in critical condition, where doctors declared him dead due to inadequate treatment.
Tension prevailed in the region as similar incidents occurred in the last couple of days, resulting in the deaths of three people, including a minor boy, in elephant attacks in the locality. A person was killed in the Sol range area, while a house was broken into in Munda Sahi of the Tamra ranger, and two minor girls were killed in an elephant attack. Four persons were killed in similar incidents in the Bonai range area in the last 15 days, while one person is undergoing treatment at a hospital.
The elephant also destroyed a house on Sunday and attempted to attack the house owner. However, he narrowly escaped the attack. The repeated incidents of elephant attacks irked the locals, who attacked a forest personnel. Later, a group of villagers staged a dharna in front of the residence of the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), demanding a solution to the elephant menace and compensation for the victim’s family.
