Abhilash loved elephants, may have gone too close to jumbo

Abhilash, a 27-year-old man who was trampled to death by an elephant, loved pachyderms.

He had many pictures of him with elephants, including his profile picture on his Facebook account. The police, quoting one of the members of his family, said whenever Abhilash learnt about the arrival of elephants, he would go to see them with his friends. He even stayed for a week at Manchanbele where Sidda, an injured elephant spent days in the water.

Abhilash was a resident of Gavipuram near Basavanagudi and was working as a sales manager for a cell phone company.

On Tuesday, Abhilash and his friends went into the forest and smoked and consumed alcohol, the victim’s relative told police.

“We were informed at 7.30 pm by forest guards that a man was trampled upon at the elephant kraal. The incident may have happened between 5 pm and 6 pm. By then, his three friends had run away,” said a senior police officer.

“We rushed to the spot and tried to pull him out of the kraal, but the elephant was furious. We managed to pull him out and shifted him to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead,” the officer said. The police suspect Abhilash did not think the elephant would harm him and had gone too close to it.

Javed Mumtaz, deputy conservator of forests, Bannerghatta National Park said they have filed a trespass complaint under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 with the jurisdictional magistrate in Anekal.