An elephant which had strayed from nearby Baikunthapur forest to Siliguri town went on the rampage here for around seven hours on Wednesday damaging over 40 houses and some vehicles before it was tranquilised. The elephant was first spotted at Dabgram and Fulbari area of the North Bengal town in the early hours.
Seeing the elephant, panic-stricken people started running helter skelter and Forest personnel rushed to the spot to drive away the pachyderm to the forest.
The Forest personnel fired tranquiliser dart at the jumbo, but it failed to have any effect on the elephant and instead it went berserk and turned its wrath on the houses damaging walls and pillars.
Police had to use water cannon to keep away curious onlookers as the elephant flattened some vehicles at a car garage after razing the boundary wall, a district officer said.
The all important Sevoke Road had to be closed for traffic as the mob took over the street on trail of the jumbo, the officer said adding an unspecified number of people suffered bruises in the melee but were discharged after first aid.
The elephant was finally tamed after seven hours when it was hit by tranquiliser dart for the second time as it headed towards a shopping mall. As it got drowsy the jumbo was put on a large 12-wheel truck with the help of two cranes and taken to Sukhna forest for release