Keonjhar: The human-elephant conflict in Odisha continued with youth being trampled to death by a tusker Monday at Charikonia forest road in this district. The deceased was identified as Madan Mohan Nayak of Akula Malanda village. As per information available from locals Madan Mohan was going from Telkoi to Gopinath village along with two others on his bike. Suddenly an elephant appeared on the road and attacked the two-wheeler. While the two others on the bike managed to flee, Madan Mohan could not do so. The elephant held him with its trunk before trampling him to death, eye-witnesses said. The two who managed to escape were identified as Budharam Munda and Deepak Munda.
After getting information about the incident, Forest Department officials reached the spot. They handed over the body of the deceased to the police who sent it for post-mortem to the Telkoi hospital after registering a case of unnatural death. The incident sparked tension in the locality with local villagers surrounding Forest officials demanding compensation for the deceased’s family. Later police pacified them and sent them home.