Tension gripped the forested villages abutting Chittoor-Tamil Nadu border on Friday when a herd of wild elephants from the Koundinya sanctuary attacked a group of men, killing one and critically injuring another, inside the forest close to Keeramanda village of Bangarupalem mandal, 45 km from here.
According to Sub-Inspector (Bangarupalem) P. Ramakrishna, a group of men from Keeramanda and surrounding hamlets went inside the forest in the morning to collect some forest produce and were returning home in the evening, when they were rounded by a herd of wild elephants close to the buffer zone.
While two men were caught in the ring, others could flee the spot. The elephants, said to be eight in number, trampled one person, identified as Dhananjaya (48), to death, and the other man, Ravi (30), suffered grievous injuries, with multiple fractures. After throwing Ravi into bushes, the herd surrounded the dead. The others, who fled the scene, informed the tragedy to the villagers at Keeramanda, who in turn rushed to the spot and shifted the injured Ravi to Government Hospital at Bangarupalem.
In critical condition
In view of lockdown, getting an auto to the forest location was considerably delayed, the police said. Those who fled the scene went absconding later, fearing police interrogation. As the condition of Ravi was critical, the hospital staff said that he would likely to be shifted to Chittoor hospital.
As the attack came to light after dusk, the police and forest personnel found it tough to reach the forest location. The police and the elephant-trackers drove away the herd and retrieved the body of Dhananjaya, shifting it to area hospital for autopsy.
