Tension gripped Gudalur town after when a 52-year old man was trampled to death by a stray elephant in the early hours of today.
Dominic was going to his house through a paddy field in Kasimedu, fringe area of Gudalur town, about 60 Kms from here, when the elephant roaming around the area for the last six months chased and trampled him to death, police said.
Hearing about the incident, the villagers rushed to the area and staged a picketing and refused to shift the body, protesting against the apathy of forest department to put an end to the man-animal conflict, they said.
As officials from forest and police departments, along with the local Tahsildar reached the spot and assured to find a solution, they dispersed and the body was sent to government hospital for postmortem.
Anticipating trouble, like happened a few months ago in nearby area, where irate villagers torched three forest department jeeps and ransacked an office, after a tiger killed two persons, including a woman, a posse of police were deployed there, police said.
The villagers and some NGOs were requesting the forest department to trap the elephant and send it to Theppakkad Camp, as the people were living in fear for the last few months.
