Tusker kills elderly couple in tea garden

Two other members of the family were injured and are being treated at a local health centre

TT Correspondent   |   Jalpaiguri   |  08.12.22 : An elderly couple was trampled to death by a wild tusker at a tea garden of Nagrakata block in Jalpaiguri district early on Wednesday.

Two other members of the family were injured and are being treated at a local health centre.

Foresters visited the spot and decided to monitor the tusker as well as prepare a dossier on it.

Sources said that around 2am, the tusker came out of the Diana forest and entered the Gara labour line of Kalabari tea estate in Nagrakata block. It damaged the quarters of Buddhiman Oraon, a garden worker.

It then attacked the quarters of Baburam Majhi, 65, nearby. Majhi and his family members were asleep on one cot. The elephant broke the wall and pulled out the cot. It then attacked the persons and trampled on Majhi and his 60-year-old wife Bahamoni. Both died on the spot.

The elephant also attacked their daughter Asha, 28, and grandson Shivraj, 6, wrapping them in its trunk and tossing them away. The duo were later shifted to the primary health centre in Banarhat.

The tusker damaged three other workers’ quarters and returned to the forest.  

Sources said a couple of days back another person had died in an elephant attack at Sukhanibusty in the same block. Another resident of Kalabari was attacked by the same tusker on Tuesday.

As news spread, a team of foresters and local police visited the spot and recovered the bodies of the couple.

“The family will be compensated under government norms. What surprises us is the tusker became so aggressive. We have asked our men to monitor its movement. We will also prepare a dossier on it to keep in record its attacks. In future, preventive steps can be taken to stop it from entering human habitats,” said Janmejoy Pal, the additional divisional forest officer of Gorumara wildlife division.

Courtesy & source - The Telegraph