Elephant kills Gudalur Municipality staff

The victim, K Balusamy from Quint division in ‘O’ Valley had left office on Monday evening, but he didn’t reach home. Family members remained clueless on his whereabouts.

Meanwhile, villagers spotted Balusamy lying dead in a tea estate on Tuesday morning. They claimed that his body got distorted in an elephant attack.

Forest Department officials from O Valley and New Hope police sent the body for post mortem at Gudalur GH. Irate villagers faulted lack of proper transportation facilities and absence of telecommunication network to alert people on animal movements to have caused a spate in deaths in elephant attacks.

Police have registered a case and the Forest Department gave an initial compensation of Rs 50,000 to the kin of the deceased.

As many as seven persons have died in elephant attacks so far this year in the Gudalur forest division.

Over the last few weeks, elephant herds have been camping in Kokkal foothills and Health Camp areas in Gudalur triggering panic among people in the surrounding villages.