Not fed bananas, angry elephant kills mahout

Seoni (MP): A female elephant slammed and trampled the mahout to death in Madhya Pradesh's Seoni district after he didn't feed her bananas, police said on Wednesday.

The incident occurred at Rahiwada village under the Bandol police station limits, about 20 km away from the Seoni district headquarters, an official said.

Bandol police station incharge Dilip Pancheshwar said the mahout, Bharat Vasudev (55), used to seek alms with the 20-year-old elephant "Heera" along with some of his associates.

A day earlier, a truck driver carrying fruits stopped the vehicle after seeing the elephant walking on the road with the mahout and offered a bunch of bananas, he said.

The mahout, however, didn't feed bananas to the elephant.

"After seeing this, the elephant became angry. She lifted the mahout with her trunk, slammed him on the road, and trampled him to death," the police officer said.

The mahout was taken to a hospital where doctors declared him dead.

"The mahout's associates said it was very unusual behaviour by the elephant," Pancheshwar said.