A tusker, which got separated from a herd of 26 elephants 10 days ago, is giving sleepless nights to villagers of Chakulia block in Ghatshila subdivision of East Singhbhum district.

Unlike wild elephants that mostly remain anchored in the jungle, the tusker is roaming around in villages and on NH-33 along Chakulia.

Though the jumbo hasn’t hurt any villager, it is entering primary schools for stocks of rice meant for mid-day meals besides feasting on paddy from sacks kept on stationary trucks.

It has also damaged standing crops and mud houses while sniffing around for food.

Dhalbhum divisional forest officer Abhishek Kumar confirmed the presence of the wild tusker and the problems faced by the forest officials in driving it away to the jungle.

“The tusker seems tame. It was perhaps in a circus or raised by some mahout at home and then left in the jungle,” Kumar told The Telegraph.

The DFO said the elephant was not responding to the measures undertaken by the forest department to drive it away to Bengal.

Kumar said they had distributed crackers and mashaals among the residents of Manasmuria village to help them protect their houses at night. “Though the elephant hasn’t caused any bodily harm, it tends to break into houses in search of paddy and rice,” the forest officer said.

The villages where the tusker has been frequently spotted are close to the Bengal border, about 70km away from the heart of the city.

“The elephant damaged my house and ate up two sacks of paddy. The forest department has promised to compensate me for my losses, but it is a matter of time,” Ghanshyam Majhi, a resident of Manasmuria, said.

Like Ghanshyam, several other villagers whose mud houses have been damaged by the tusker, are waiting for their and praying for the animal’s retreat into the jungle.