Boko: In yet another incident of man-elephant conflict, an elderly couple was reportedly trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants on Monday at Bogai Reserve Forest in Assam’s Chaygaon.
The deceased, identified as Thuleswar Rabha (55) and Nilima Rabha (50), hailed from Kochpara village in Chaygaon.
The tragic incident took place when the duo went to Bogai Reserve Forest hills for cultivation early in the morning. The bodies were recovered by some locals who went to the area to collect firewoods, sources said.
According to the locals, the couple used to go for cultivation on the hill side on daily basis.
“We found the bodies and informed about it to other villagers, Boko police as well as Bamunigaon Forest officials. After getting the information, police, forest officials and a medical team rushed to the incident site and recovered the bodies,” a local said.
Dasarath Rabha, brother of the Nilima Rabha, said, “We came to know that a herd of wild elephants have strayed into the area and brutally killed them.”
It is to be mentioned that under the West Kamrup Divisional Forest, several incidents of such man and elephant conflicts have taken place especially along the Assam- Meghalaya border area.
A sources from the Forest department said, “The area where the incident happened is being allegedly used for making charcoal by the smugglers and they also use the area to stock wood logs. Wild elephants often stray into the area in search of food. We suspect that the couple has been killed by wild elephants.”
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Locals, who went to the incident site along with police and forest officials to recover the bodies, claimed that they saw wood logs and charcoal packets at the place, which might have been prepared to sell it to the smugglers.
Earlier, the state forest department had organised many awareness camps and meetings to spread awareness among villagers to curb man and elephant conflicts.
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