Two bikeborne youths fell into a canal, while chasing away elephants back into the forest at Hadugur near here on Sunday morning. While one of them drowned in the canal, the other swam to safety, sustaining minor injuries.
A herd of four elephants had virtually invaded the fields in the village on Saturday night.
On Sunday morning, Purushotham, 45, and Janardhan decided to give a chase to the pachyderms on their motorcycles.
By the time they reached the fringes of the forest, one of the tuskers came from behind and attacked the bike and the riders with its trunk.
The two, along with the bike fell into the nearby left bank of the Harangi reservoir.
The body of Purushotham, who drowned, was fished out by the local residents and expert swimmers by five pm. Janardhan swam to safety.
Local residents besieged and raised slogans against the Forest department officials who visited the spot, demanding that steps be taken to prevent jumbos from raiding agriculture fields.
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