A member of an elephant herd trampled to death a forest guard who was in a team to drive away the animals from near a tea garden in Alipurduar district on Thursday morning.

Madan Dewan, 45, was posted in the Hamiltangunj forest range of the Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR)'s west division.

Around 10am, foresters received information that a herd of around 20 elephants had strayed into a road that connects Rangamati and Kalchini. Immediately, a team of foresters went to the spot and tried to send the animals back to the Rangamati forest.

However, hundreds of people gathered to catch a glimpse of the elephants and started irritating the herd. "Soon, the elephants chased the crowd, prompting some onlookers to pelt the herd with stones. Police arrived and used batons to disperse the crowd," said a source.

Some elephants entered the Kalchini tea estate where one of the animals caught hold of Dewan with the trunk and trampled him to death.

The foresters seized Dewan's body after the elephants returned to the jungle.

“The incident was unfortunate. Compensation will be paid to the family of the forest guard according to the rules. We will send a proposal to the department to provide a job to a family member,” said Harikrishnan P.J, the deputy field director of the BTR (west).

Sambar in tea garden

A sambar (a deer species) strayed into a tea estate in the Banarhat block of Jalpaiguri on Thursday afternoon.

Sources said that around 2.30pm, the sambar walked out of the Diana forest and moved into the Kalabari tea estate. It wandered near the house of tea worker Sagar Oraon and took shelter in some bushes.

Teams from the wildlife squad stationed in Binnaguri, along with Nathua and Diana forest ranges, cleared the crowd and used nets to catch the sambar. It will be kept under medical observation.