Berhampur: A 65-year-old man was allegedly trampled to death by a tusker in Baibili forest under Ganjam district’s Ghumusar forest division on Sunday afternoon.The body of the deceased , Krupasindhu Swain, of Baibili was recovered from the forest area by officials on Monday and sent for autopsy to the sub-divisional hospital, Bhanjanagar.The man had gone into the forest to graze cattle and did not return home at night. During the search, family members found his body in the forest area and suspected he might have died in elephant attack. They informed the forest officials.Circumstantial evidence has revealed that he died due to the attack of an elephant as forest personnel found the pug marks and dung of the jumbo, said Himansu Sekhar Mohanty, divisional forest officer (DFO), Ghumusar North forest division. He said a tusker, separated from its original herd was roaming in the area for last some days. The herd was now moved towards the Phulbani forest division in Kandhamal district.In a separate incident, forest officials found the carcass of a sub-adult female elephant near Kadaligada village under Tarsingi forest range in the same division. The exact cause of elephant’s death would be known only after getting the autopsy report of the elephant. The post-mortem of the elephant was conducted following all procedures on Sunday, he said.
