Marauding tusker kills man

BALASORE: A tusker killed a man in Ayodhya village of Nilgiri block late on Sunday. The deceased was identified as Bhakta Charan Das, 45.
He mistook the animal to be a bullock in the dark and tried to drive it away. Enraged the elephant attacked him.
Das was taken to Nilgiri hospital and later shifted to Balasore district headquarters hospital. But doctors declared him brought dead, said his son, Bibhubhushan Das.
Earlier in the day, a woman was trampled to death by the same elephant at Tulasidhia village in Bhalukasuni panchayat. Fulamani Singh, 35, tried to escape on seeing the animal but in vain, said her relative Dujhi Singh.
In the last two days, the tusker from Jharkhand has killed two persons in Nilgiri block. On July 1, one person was killed by elephants in Teraldhi village. He was identified as Sudam Majhi.
On Monday, villagers of Tulasidhia blocked the Nilgiri-Udala road for two hours, while people of Ayodhya staged a demonstration in front of divisional forest officer's (DFO) office in Balasore. "We don't want compensation but security for our lives," said Prashant Kumar Parida, a protester.
"Elephants from Jharkahnd's Dalma sanctuary are entering Balasore district every year since 2010. They destroy paddy and wreck havoc. The killer tusker has separated from the herd," said DFO (Balasore) Harshabardhan Udgata.
According to government norms, Rs 2 lakh compensation will be paid to each family. "We will try our best to allay the fears of villagers. We have spoken to principal chief conservator of forests to ways to contain the elephant rampage," he said.