A wild elephant in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district has caused terror by killing five people in separate incidents over the past three days. The most recent tragedy happened when the elephant attacked a family while they were sleeping in their house. The tusker destroyed the house of Kundra Bahda, resulting in the deaths of Kundra Bahda, his son Kodma Bahda, and his daughter Samu Bahda.
Another child from the same family, Jingi Bahda, suffered severe head injuries while trying to escape and was later transferred to Rourkela in Odisha due to her critical condition. In a previous incident, a 56-year-old woman named Jonga Kui was killed in Bila Kundukocha village, with her husband narrowly escaping the attack. Additionally, a 13-year-old boy, Renga Kaiyam, was trampled to death by elephants while sleeping in a barn in the Saiyatwa forest area near Chaibasa.
Forest officials have been monitoring the movements of the elephant in Goilkera and nearby regions for several days. To address the situation, a 10-member expert team from West Bengal was dispatched on Monday to guide the elephant back into the forest. Human encroachment on forest land, leading to habitat loss for elephants, has been identified as a key factor contributing to these man-animal conflicts.
The continuous incidents have instilled fear and anger among villagers, who are calling for a lasting solution to the elephant threat. Local residents are also urging the forest department and district administration to promptly compensate the families of the deceased and injured individuals. A recent report from the Wildlife Institute of India revealed that Jharkhand witnessed 1,740 elephant attack incidents between 2000 and 2023, resulting in 1,340 human fatalities.
Reportedly, nearly 200 people have lost their lives in elephant attacks in Jharkhand between 2023 and 2025.
