Elephant menace continues to rock Chandil forest range in the foothills of Dalma in Seraikela-Kharsawan district.

A 24-year-old man was trampled to death by a tusker at Salukdih village under Ichagarh police station in the small hours of Saturday.

Deceased Laxman Mahto’s family members said he had stepped out of the house to relieve himself in the nearby bush around 4 in the morning when the lone tusker attacked and killed him.

With Laxman’s death, the number of persons killed by elephants in the area in the last five days has risen to two.

Forest department officials and police reached the spot on Thursday morning and held an inquest.

“Our investigation has revealed that Laxman was talking on his mobile with his earphones while sitting under a tree near his house. Some villagers had alerted him about the approaching tusker, but he could not hear it. The tusker caught hold of him, smashed him on the ground with its trunk and crushed him to death,” Chandil forest range officer Ashok Kumar told The Telegraph.

On the afternoon of December 31, a 35-year-old woman was trampled to death by a herd of two elephants at Karkadih jungle under Tiruldih police station, about five kilometres from Salukdih.

“One of the jumbos had picked up the woman’s seven-year-old daughter Sulochana Pramanik in its trunk and dropped her on the ground, causing grievous injury in the process. The girl is currently undergoing treatment at the MGM Medical College & Hospital,” the range officer said.

Kumar said the forest department officials had drove away the two elephants from Ichagarh to Tamar range after the incident and there was no reports of any tusker being spotted in the Chandil range on Friday.

“The lone tusker that killed the youth today (Saturday) might have come in the night from Tamar jungle,” the ranger said.