Killer elephant sighted on the borders of Telangana

The pachyderm was suspected to have reached Kammargaon by crossing Lodpalli Yellur, Mereguda, Kothaguda, Agarguda villages at night, covering a distance of at least 20 kilometers.

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: The rogue wild elephant, which killed two farmers in a gap of 24 hours, was reportedly sighted at Palleprakriti Vanam on the outskirts of a forest fringe village Kammargaon village in Penchikalpet mandal early on Friday morning, panicking locals.

The pachyderm was suspected to have reached Kammargaon by crossing Lodpalli Yellur, Mereguda, Kothaguda, Agarguda villages at night, covering a distance of at least 20 kilometers. It was being trailed by two forest beat officers. The officials predicted that it would return to Maharashtra by crossing the Pranahita river at Nandigaon village soon.

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The tusker earlier circumambulated around the spot where it trampled a farmer to death at a field at Kondapalli before wandering till Kammargaon throughout night. Footprints of the animal were recorded at the field. It was spotted by passengers of a TSRTC bus on the road between Lodpalli and Sulugupalli villages on Thursday night.

The lone male elephant aged around 20-25 years belonging to Odisha separated from its herd moving in Gadchiroli district of neighboring Maharashtra and entered Telangana by crossing Pranahita river on Wednesday afternoon. It initially trampled Alluri Shankar (55), a farmer at Burepalli village in Chintalamanepalli mandal on the same day before killing Karu Pocham (65), another farmer in a farm at Kondapalli village in Penchikalpet mandal early on Thursday morning.

Joint teams of forest and revenue departments, comprising 70 staffers, were formed to track the movement of the animal. Drone cameras were flown to trace the animal. A team of six experts in chasing the elephant was brought from Maharashtra to drive away the tusker. Extensive publicity was created among the rural folks over the movement of the animal.

Section 144 of CrPC was imposed in Chintalamanepalli, Bejjur and Penchikalpet mandals.