Bengaluru, Sep 28: In a shocking incident, a morning walker was trampled by a wild elephant at Anchepalya, near Bannerghatta in Bengaluru on Monday morning, while he was just approaching his house after finishing the morning walk.
Elephant attack near Bannerghatta
The deceased has been identified as Nagaraju (60), and the government has announced ₹20 lakh compensation to the family members of the deceased and launched a major operation to capture the single elephant that has strayed into the city from Bannerghatta National Park.
The incident took place just a kilometre from the Mysuru-Bengaluru Expressway near Rajarajeshwari Hospital, which is close to Good Earth Malhar Apartments. At around 5 am, Nagaraju, along with his daughter Bhagya, went on their routine morning walk. Usually, one more friend used to accompany father and daughter. However, he did not accompany them on Monday morning.
Bhagya completed the walk early and went inside the house, while Nagaraju was still walking near Varahi Vivera Apartment. The elephant came to the road from the bushes, saw Nagaraju and just attacked him. He was spotted by the security guards of the apartment, who alerted the neighbours. Nagaraj was shifted to Rajarajeshwari Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.
Elephant habitat under pressure
The area on the Mysuru Road from Pattanagere to BM Kaval is an old elephant habitat, and the housing complexes have come up during the last 10-15 years. There is a large tract of vacant land around, and BM Kaval forest is just next to the place where the attack has taken place. Since the area falls under Vrishabhavathi Valley, the elephants still stray out to drink water in the Vrishabhavathi River.
Earlier also, the security guards have seen elephants straying near the residential complex at night, and CCTV footage of earlier incidents and Monday's incident was available from the apartment cameras.
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Operation launched to capture elephant
Forest Minister Ramalinga Reddy said that the elephant was still inside the BM Kaval forest and the exact coordinates of the elephant were being tracked. "The elephant has strayed five kilometres out of Bannerghatta. We have launched an operation to capture the elephant. We are getting three trained elephants from Dubare Elephant Camp to assist the operation and over 100 staff and experts were working in the operation," he added.
