Gaya, Feb. 1: A Class VIII student was trampled to death by one of the elephants from the herd that had entered from Garhwa in Jharkhand few days back.

The deceased, identified as Shubham Kumar, was a resident of Mahuawan village under the jurisdiction of Madanpur police station in Aurangabad and had gone to see the elephant out of curiosity.

Earlier, two persons, identified as Bishu Paswan (50) and Nigar Alam (18) were killed in Dumaria (Gaya) and Deo (Aurangabad) on January 26 and 29 respectively.

Divisional forest officer (DFO) K. Neshamani, who is leading the operation to drive back the elephants, said : "Jawans of the 153rd C battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have been involved in the operation. We have urged villagers to stay indoors and keep a torchlight burning outside their houses during night hours."

The DFO has ruled out tranquillising the elephants because it is in a herd. There are 15 elephants, including four baby elephants, he said.

Two separate teams from Banka and Bankura are assisting the Gaya forest department team to drive back the elephants that had entered in Rajwalia village of Dumaria block in Gaya district on January 26. The herd has been driven back from Dumaria to Deo in Aurangabad but is in Madanpur block at present.

Yesterday, the herd damaged the house of Ravindra Rikiyasan, a resident of Chingi village under the jurisdiction of Deo police station. It has also destroyed standing crops in the fields.