A wild elephant was electrocuted to death as it touched an energised fence of a paddy field in Alipurduar district on Monday night.

On Tuesday morning, foresters recovered the carcass from a paddy field in Mandalpara under Kalchini block of the district, around 35km away from here, between Jaldapara National Park and the west division of Buxa Tiger Reserve.

Some residents spotted the carcass and informed foresters. Teams from the BTR and Jaldapara initiated a probe. A post-mortem of the carcass will be done before cremation.

"It was an adult makna (male without tusks). Last year, we issued letters to tea garden authorities and elected representatives of panchayats to ensure illegal energised fences are not put up anywhere. It seems we have to repeat the campaign,” said Parveen Kaswan, the deputy field director of the BTR (west) division.

According to foresters, elephants were straying into the village and damaging crops. To save the crops, some villagers put up barbed wire fences fitted with blades and got them connected with power cables.

“A barbed wire was stuck in the elephant’s trunk. Two persons were involved in making the illegal energised fence. We are searching for them,” Kaswan added.