Foresters managed to push the herd of six elephants, which had killed four persons at Mathabhanga subdivision of Cooch Behar district, back into the forest on Friday night.

Of the six elephants, one had to be tranquillised and hauled onto a truck with the help of a crane on Saturday.

"We could send five of six elephants into the forest on Friday night. The last elephant was also sent back into the forest on Saturday,” said Bijon Kumar Nath, the additional divisional forest officer of Cooch Behar division, on Saturday.

A tranquillised elephant being lifted by a crane in Cooch Behar on Saturday. Main Uddin Chisti

The elephants had strayed into the human habitat of Dinhata subdivision from the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary on Thursday. On Friday, they reached Mathabhanga, where four persons died in elephant attacks while three others were injured.

A source in the forest department said that over 150 forest guards from Alipurduar's Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary were engaged to drive the elephants to Jaldapara on Friday night. Though they managed to drive back five elephants into the forest, one remained in Ghoksadanga area of Mathabhanga subdivision.

"We tranquillised the elephant near Ruidanga area last night. But when we were trying to carry it over a truck by tying it with a rope, suddenly the animal untied itself and took shelter in a paddy field in the area,” said a forester.

"We cordoned the area and kept close watch on the animal so that it could not leave the spot. In the morning (Saturay), we managed to haul the animal on a truck and transported it inside the forest, successfully,” said the official.

A delegation of Trinamul led by Udayan Guha, the minister for north Bengal development, and Abhijit Dey Bhowmik, the president of Trinamul’s Cooch Behar district committee, met the family members of the deceased persons.

"Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has assured that members of the deceased families will soon get compensation from the forest department. We have visited the victims' family members and conveyed the chief minister’s message to them,” Guha said.