Balishankara: In a shocking incident, a woman who along with eight others came from Chhattisgarh to Sundargarh district on a pilgrimage was trampled to death Monday by an elephant at Ghogar village. The deceased has been identified as Bilei Bai (45).
According to a source, the deceased and eight other devotees from Bishnupur village under Sitapur police limits in Sarguja district of Chhattisgarh had come with the intention of paying obeisance at the Jagannath and Maa Samaleswari Temple in Sundargarh district. They were then scheduled to depart for their native place in Chhattisgarh.
On their way, the nine stopped at Balishankara village to spend the night. Unaware about the presence of wild animals, especially elephants in the locality, Bilei went to the nearby jungle to attend nature’s call. An elephant came out from nowhere and before she could react, the animal caught the deceased in its trunk and threw her down. Then it trampled Bilei to death.
On being informed, officials of the Forest department and police reached the spot. After preliminary investigation, the police sent the body for post-mortem to at the Sundargarh district headquarters hospital.