Elderly man on his way to vote trampled to death by wild elephant in Jharkhand

Jamshedpur: A 71-year-old man was trampled to death by a wild elephant in a village in Jharkhand's East Singhbhum district when he was on his way to cast his vote for the Lok Sabha polls on Saturday, police said.

The man was a resident and the 'pradhan' (village head) of Gobarbani village within the limits of the Baharagora police station in Jamshedpur Lok Sabha constituency.

The incident happened around 90 km away from Jamshedpur city when he was passing through the Gobarbani jungle, a police officer said.

The victim, Surendra Nath Hansdah, a resident of Gobarbani under Muturkham panchayat, left home around 6.30 am to exercise his franchise.

He was heading towards 135- Dholabeda polling centre when the pachyderm attacked him, the victim's son, Dipendra Hansdah, wrote in his statement, the police said.

The elderly man made an attempt to flee but he was trampled to death 100 meters away from the polling centre, his son Dipendra Hansda told PTI.

Villagers rushed to the spot and informed the forest department.

The department officials and police personnel arrived on the spot and recovered the body, which was returned to family members following an autopsy at Ghatsila Sadar Hospital, he said.

The forest department has handed over Rs 25,000 as immediate relief to perform the last rites of the victim, Hansda added.