Jumbos kill techie in Anekal

A 39-year-old software engineer was killed by a herd of elephants at the Nilgiri grove at Mantapa village near Bannerghatta in the taluk on Saturday afternoon.

The elephants attacked Soorappa Ramesh, an employee of IBM and a native of Jambur village of Bhadravati taluk, when the engineer - an amateur wildlife photographer - came to the grove and tried to click pictures of the herd which had gone on a rampage in the grove. He was residing in Bangalore along with his wife Yashodha.

Ramesh, who collapsed on the spot, was provided water to drink by the onlookers. When he was taken to the hospital, doctors said he had died due to heart attack, according to the Bannerghatta police.

Hundreds of people from nearby villages had gathered at the grove after coming to know that the jumbos were camping there.

There was chaos all around and the elephants, in a bid to protect their calves, started attacking anyone coming in their way. Earlier, a herd of 15 wild elephants entered the Nilgiri grove of Prakash of Mantapa village in the wee hours of Saturday.

The herd comprised three calves and two tuskers. It had entered the fields in Mantapa, Lakshmipura, Vajarahalli and Jangalapalya villages from the forest in search of food on Friday night.

The herd came to the grove at daybreak on its way back to the forest.
Three of the elephants separated from the herd and headed to the forest at 1.30, before the incident in which Ramesh was killed.

Meanwhile, an irate mob tried to attack forest department staff, following the incident. They damaged two vehicles belonging to the department.

The forest department managed to chase the elephants back into the forest by 4.30 pm, with help from the public. Vehicular movement was affected on the Bannerghatta-Anekal road when the jumbos were crossing the road.