Man attacked by rogue elephant in TN dies

Chennai, May 30 A 57-year-old man, who fell down from his two-wheeler when the rogue elephant 'Arikomban' attacked the vehicle, passed away on Tuesday.

The deceased is identified as Palraj, a resident of Cumbum town.

Tamil Nadu Forest Minister M. Mathiventhan and Rural Development Minister I. Periyaswamy had on Sunday visited Palraj at Theni Government Medical College hospital. The minister had also handed over a cheque of Rs 50,000 to Palraj's family.

The death of Palraj has led to protests from local people demanding the capture of Arikomban.

A 150-member team of the Tamil Nadu forest Department, including three kumki elephants and two veterinar, are at Cumbum and surrounding areas to tranquilise and capture the rogue elephant.

However, the forest department on Tuesday said that the elephant is now located in the forest area near the Shanmukhananda temple which is around 3 km away from the human settlements.

A senior official with the Tamil Nadu forest department told that the elephant could not be tranquilised from the present location as the terrain was uneven and vehicles will not be able to reach the spot to relocate the animal from that place.