Guwahati: An elephant named after 9/11 mastermind and former leader of terrorist organisation al-Qaeda Osama bin Laden has died in captivity after being tranquilised recently by the forest department.
Osama had killed five people in the village of Matia under Goalpara district in Assam a few weeks ago.
“The animal was doing fine but the keepers here have reported that it died around 5.30 a.m. today (Sunday),” said a senior official of the Orang national park.
The 35-year old bull pachyderm was taken into custody from Rongjuli forest division in Western Assam’s Goalpara district November 11 before being shifted to Orang national park by forest officials November 12.
The elephant had wreaked havoc in MAtia which led people to nickname him Osama but he was soon rechristened as ‘Krishna’ after being captured. The Assam government has already initiated an investigation and a post-mortem is being carried out to ascertain the cause of Osama’s death.
The elephant had been a cause for concern among Matia natives for a long time. “We will be able to sleep peacefully only after the killer jumbo is captured,” villager Kohinoor Hussain had said earlier this month.
PNN