A forest guard was killed by a wild elephant in Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary on Saturday night, with sources in the forest department claiming that the guard failed to defend himself from the animal's attack as his old firearm malfunctioned.

Rithey Subba, 44, along with four other forest guards, were patrolling at Jogendranagar, some 40km from Alipurduar town in Bangdaki beat of the sanctuary, when a female elephant with its newborn calf attacked them.

"He (Subba) tried to defend himself by firing a blank shot in the air. However, his firearm was old and malfunctioned,” said a forest department source.

Subba was rushed to the Falakata super-specialty hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

Allegations of forest guards are being exposed to risk because of old and unreliable firearms further gained traction when the rifles of another set of forest guards also malfunctioned in another beat of the sanctuary on Saturday night.

According to a source in the forest department, two other forest guards, Samarjit Barman and Rafiqul Islam, had a lucky escape from an elephant attack at Mayradangi beat of the western range of Jaldapara on Saturday night.

"Their firearms also malfunctioned when they were trying to drive a wild elephant into the forest,” said the source. "But they had a lucky escape."

An official admitted that forest guards do get old weapons that put their lives at risk.

Navojit Dey, the additional conservator (wildlife) of Jaldapara, said about Subba's death: “It was an unfortunate incident. The deceased’s family members will be compensated.”

Subba’s death was the fifth casualty in an elephant attack in the Dooars in the last three days.