A female elephant, aged around 20-25 years, was electrocuted to death in Keonjhar forest range under Sadar forest division on Wednesday.
The wild animal allegedly died after it came in contact with a high-voltage live wire at Nekadaghar forest under Naranpur section.
As per reports, a herd of 18 elephants was spotted wandering in the Nekadaghar forest in the early morning hours on Wednesday. While the herd moved ahead, the female elephant came in contact with a 33KV live wire, running from Naranpur Power Grid to Janghira, and died on the spot, said an eyewitness.
However, other elephants in the herd had a safe escape.
"The herd was travelling from Guhalchatua area and passed through the forest. While the elephants were on the move, one of them came in contact with an electric pole and instantly died. Other elephants of the herd fled the spot in fear," said the eye-witness.
"The electric pole was charged with a high-voltage broken live wire that was hanging from the top," he added. Further, he said, the power supply company's employees failed to locate the broken live wire and carry out repairs since many days.
The Keonjhar Forest officials rushed to the spot after receiving the information about the tragic accident and analysed the situation.
The corpse of the dead elephant was buried after conducting post-mortem.
Meanwhile, the locals have alleged that irregularity and dereliction of the duty on the part of the employees of the power supply company was responsible for the death of the majestic wild jumbo.