A 21-year-old man was trampled to death by a wild elephant in a village in Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district on Sunday while trying to take a selfie with the animal, a Forest Department officer said.
The incident took place in the morning in Gudhyari village in the Sarangarh Forest Range when Manohar Patel and three friends tried to click a selfie with the elephant, said Pranay Mishra, the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Raigarh Forest Division.
A huge crowd of residents had gathered in the village when the forest officials were trying to chase away the elephant into the jungle, Mishra said.
Meanwhile, Patel and his three friends went close to the elephant even while taking selfies on their phones.
"The elephant suddenly charged towards them following which two of them managed to escape. The elephant caught hold of Patel and trampled him to death," Mishra said.
The kin of the deceased have been given an instant relief of Rs 25,000, he said.
According to officials, the killer female elephant was the one which killed an elderly woman in Malda village in the area on Friday.
This elephant had entered Sarangarh from Saraipali forest in neighbouring Mahasamund district with its calf a couple of days back.
It was apparently in a foul mood as it was separated from its calf on Sunday. Forest personnel are trying to unite the two.
