Bokaro: A 19-year-old college student identified as Anurag Yadav was killed by a wild elephant in Bagodih village under Sariya police station limits in Giridih district on Saturday night after it got separated from its herd. Confirming the death, Sariya police station officer-in-charge Pinku Singh said, “The victim is a resident of the same village.”Anurag, a second-year undergraduate student at Sariya College, was returning home from Hazaribag after completing his examinations when the incident took place. According to villagers, the elephant was roaming in the area for the past two days, and repeated alerts had already been sent to the forest department. On Saturday night, when the elephant entered the village, residents came out and tried to drive it away by shouting and flashing torches. The animal initially retreated, but as villagers began returning home, it suddenly turned aggressive and charged back, sparking chaos. In the stampede-like situation that followed, people ran in different directions to save themselves. During the panic, the elephant struck Anurag forcefully with its trunk, throwing him into a nearby well. Villagers pulled him out and rushed him to hospital, but doctors declared him brought dead.Police from Sariya station reached the spot soon after receiving information. The body was sent for post-mortem on Sunday morning and later handed over to the family.Dharmeshwar Yadav, a villager, termed the incident ‘extremely tragic’ and alleged negligence by forest department. He said the jumbo was roaming in the area for the past two days and claimed that if authorities had acted in time after being informed about its movement, “the fatal incident could have been prevented”. Forest department officials said the family would receive compensation and assured all possible assistance.
