Elephant tramples farmer guarding paddy crops to death in Odisha

Tension prevailed at Kusakala village under Keonjhar forest range after a farmer, guarding his paddy crops, was allegedly trampled to death by an elephant on Sunday. The deceased farmer has been identified as Mahi Mahanta.

It is pertinent to mention here that several farmers guard their agricultural fields by setting up temporary structures on trees as there has been a rise in incidents of elephants destroying the standing crops in the region.

On Sunday, farmer Mahi had climbed down the tree to ward off a herd of five elephants that had entered his field. However, he was trampled to death by one elephant.

A day after the incident, local villagers staged a road blockade alleging that police and forest officials shifted the farmer’s body to Keonjhar without informing his family yesterday. This sparked tension as locals questioned the move to shift the farmer’s body without informing the family members.

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The forest department officials, on the other hand, claimed that the farmer was shifted to the hospital suspecting him to the alive. However, he was declared dead by the doctors.

Meanwhile, efforts are underway by the senior police and forest department officials to hold discussion with the agitators