Elephants kill villager in Srikakulam

A 32-year-old man was found dead near Ponnaturu village of Kothuru mandal in Srikakulam district in the early hours of Sunday. The victim, Tampitaguda Kumar, was killed on Saturday night by a herd of elephants roaming in the area. Tension gripped the people of several villages of the mandal, which come under ITDA limits of Sithampet, following the incident.

According to local people, wild elephants have been coming to villages from forest areas in search of food and water in summer and sometimes attacking people.

The villagers are furious that the forest officials have allegedly been ignoring their plea to send jumbos to a zoological park. They had a heated argument with the officials on Sunday when they came to visit the incident spot.

The officials, however, stated that the issue was in the Supreme Court and it was not possible for them to relocate the animals immediately.