Kalia Behera (40), a resident of Haridapasi village under Tigiria block, was killed on Saturday early morning when a wild tusker mauled him.
While Kalia was going to defecate at a village pond with a co-villager, the elephant present at a nearby bush suddenly attacked the duo. Kalia became the victim while the other man managed to escape.
The tusker was so furious that taking Kalia by its trunk it seared his body into two parts.
Locals later dispersed the elephant and informed forest officials about the incident.
Since the Athagarh DFO was out of the headquarters and didn’t respond to the call of villagers, locals in large numbers gathered at the spot waiting for arrival of forest officials, for whose negligence of duty such tragic incidents are taking place.
However, when lady Forester Suchismita Samantray reached the spot alone at least four hours late, the irate mob assaulted her. Then, forest officials along with the Tigiria police arrived at the spot and rescued the Forester.
The forest personnel sent Kalia’s body to the Athagarh Sub-Divisional Hospital for postmortem and released Rs 10,000 for his funeral and another sum of Rs 40,000 as compensation to his family. They also assured a job opportunity for a member of the deceased’s family.