Bhubaneswar: Two villagers were trampled to death by a wild elephant in Odisha’s Khurda district, police said Monday.
The incident took place in Jaritapur village in Tangi forest range late Sunday.
The deceased were identified as Krushna Chandra Pradhan (65) and Laxmidhar Behera (70). Their bodies were found by locals Monday morning.
The deceased had gone to their paddy fields to keep a watch on the crops, when they saw the pachyderm destroying the crops. When they tried to ward off the elephant, it trampled them to death, a police officer said.
Irate locals demanded proper compensation for the next of the kin of the deceased and protection of their harvest from wild elephants.
Sarpanch Madhusudan Palai said most people of the area are dependent on agriculture for livelihood and wild elephants regularly destroy the crops.
He urged the forest department to take measures to keep away the elephants from the farmlands.
Forest officials reached the spot and started an investigation into the incident.
PTI