A captive elephant brought to a temple at Kidangoor in Angamaly, Kerala, turned violent, attacking and injuring a couple of persons, killing one, the Police said. Visuals of the incident aired on TV channels showed the jumbo attacking the vehicles parked near the temple.
It flipped over a car several times, completely destroying it, and also damaged a few two-wheelers present there, even as an Elephant Squad of the Forest Department tried to capture the jumbo before it moved out from the temple premises to a more populated area, police said.
An officer of Angamali police station said that a lorry driver was killed and the main mahout of the elephant was seriously injured in the attack.
Later, around noon, over two hours after the jumbo became violent, it was tranquilised by a veterinarian. After being darted, the elephant became even more agitated for a brief time and flipped over another vehicle inside the temple grounds, which it had earlier damaged.
Subsequently, the jumbo gradually calmed down, allowing the Forest Department team to tie ropes to its hind legs and restrain it by tying it to a couple of trees, according to visuals on TV channels.
A person claiming to be associated with the elephant said that the jumbo had previously participated in the Thrissur Pooram festival and was calm by nature.
"It has not been violent in the past. Something must have triggered it. It is calm now," he told a TV channel.
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