Aug. 9: An elephant that had strayed from the Bannerghatta forest killed a man on the outskirts of the city on Friday and then attacked a cow in Kenchanapallya village situated 30 km from here.

The incident occurred on Tuesday morning when the deceased, 40-year-old Mariyappa, was taking a short-cut through a mango orchard with two others and came upon the tusker. While his two companions managed to escape, Mariyappa was attacked by the tusker and was killed on the spot.

The elephant then attacked a cow that was tied outside a farmhouse, but moved away when the cow started screaming. The elephant entered a lake near the village and a team of forest officials kept watch over it to prevent it from entering the city area.

Conservator of Forests Bengaluru Circle, Kumar Pushkar, said that the elephant was one of four that had strayed outside the Bannerghatta forests last year and travelled beyond Tumkur. Between them they have already killed eight people.

One of the tuskers was tranquilised and relocated in the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary early this year.

The forest officials had earlier expressed helplessness to confine these elephants inside the forest area since the herd had lost is way due to the fragmentation of corridors which were earlier used by the elephants.

“This tusker was separated from two cow elephants and was camping in the Savandurga forest for many weeks. On Monday he started moving back to his base in Bannerghatta forest and that’s when this incident occurred. A watch will be kept on the elephant.