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Mail News Service
Jamshedpur, August 17: A cyclist was crushed to death by a herd of wild elephants on the Vishaygoda-Kashidih main road under Kharsawan forest area, while another cyclist pedaling ahead of him escaped from the spot and was saved. Both were returning home. The incident happened late on Monday evening. The herd consisted of 12 elephants and was reportedly roaming in the Kharsawan area.
The deceased was identified as Balram Kerai (30), a resident of Pragnathdih in Kharsawan. His friend Sushil Bodra stated that both of them had gone to Vishaygoda village on their cycles and were returning home in Pragnathdih. He said that while he was cycling a bit ahead, his friend and Balaram was behind incidentally the Vishaygoda-Kashidih road passes between the forest and the river. Meanwhile, both of them came face to face with a herd of wild elephants at a spot near the Sona River Bridge along Vishaygoda-Kashidih road.
According to Sushil Bodra, the herd of wild elephants emerged from among the bushes. Sushil Bodra saved his life by driving his bicycle at high speed, but Balram was not so lucky. The elephants crushed Balaram resulting in his death. Sushil Bodra rushed to his village Pragnathdih and informed the people about the whole incident. After this the villagers started searching for Balaram Kerai. After several hours the badly bruised body of Balaram Kerai was found on the roadside
On information of the incident, the Kharsawan police and Forest Department teams reached the spot on Tuesday morning and sent the body for postmortem. At the same time, the team of Kharsawan Forest Department immediately gave a compensation of Rs 50 Thousand to the family of the deceased. A total compensation of Rs 3.50 lakh will be provided to Balaram’s family after completion of other formalities.