Coimbatore: A 48-year-old farmer was trampled to death by a wild elephant near Sirumugai on the outskirts of Coimbatore on Saturday night.
According to forest department staff, Ganeshamurthy from Sithepalayam rushed out of his house on hearing the trumpeting of an elephant in his farm at around 10 pm.
When he found the elephant raiding crops in the field, Ganeshamurthy flashed a torch to drive it away. However, the elephant began to chase him. While running for safety, Ganeshamurthy slipped and fell. The elephant lifted him with its trunk and flung him to the ground before trampling him to death. The farmer died on the spot.
Local villagers, who arrived on hearing the noise, informed the forest department, who then chased the elephant away into the forest. Villagers asked the forest department to clear the weeds and high-rise grass that has grown in the Sithepalayam area.
They claimed that they could not see elephants which stray into human habitations due to overgrown bushes. The irate villagers also resorted to a protest by refusing to let the forest department take away the body of the deceased for post mortem.
A team of police led by DSP Ravi Shanker from Perianaickenpalayam held talks with the protesting villagers who then withdrew the protest and the body was taken to the government hospital in Mettupalayam.
