Jumbo kills 16 people in 12 days in Jharkhand

Ranchi: A tusker has allegedly killed 16 people in five Jharkhand districts in the past 12 days with four in a single block of Ranchi district on Tuesday, forest officials said.

This has prompted the Ranchi administration to impose prohibitory order under Section 144 Cr PC in Itki block prohibiting gathering more than five people to restrict further casualties, Ranchi divisional forest officer Srikant Verma said.

Villagers of Itki block have been asked to remain inside their houses, specially during sunrise and sunset. They have also been asked not to go close any elephant, he said.

“Villagers are gathering near the elephant, which caused one death today. In a bid to stop them, Section 144 Cr PC has been imposed by Ranchi administration in Itki block today,” Verma said.

The forest department is taking all possible steps, including engaging an expert team from West Bengal to tackle the elephant, which is suspected to have killed 16 people in Hazaribag, Ramgarh, Chatra, Lohardaga and Ranchi districts in the past 12 days, the principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife) Sasikar Samanta said. “We have constituted a committee comprising forest officers of four divisions and headed by the Ranchi conservator of forest. The committee will determine if the same elephant has killed all the 16 people. If the committee certifies it, we will take a decision in a day or two,” he said.

“It seems that the elephant is behaving abruptly. The committee will examine if the elephant is deliberately killing people or the people are themselves responsible for their death,” Samanta said.

The elephant had reportedly trampled to death four persons, including two women, in Lohardaga district on Monday and one on Sunday.

It appeared to have entered Ranchi’s Itki block, about 25 km from the capital city, on Monday night and reportedly killed four persons, including two women and injured one on Tuesday morning, Verma said.

The Ranchi DFO said that it is suspected that the same elephant killed five people in Hazaribag about 12 days ago and then moved to Ramgarh, where it trampled to death person one in Gola area.

The animal then allegedly moved on to Chatra and killed another person.