The calf struggles to get out of the well . Telegraph pictures

Cuttack, May 14: A man was trampled to death today by a female elephant, which was guarding her calf that had fallen into a well, at Bentapada gram panchayat in Athgarh block, nearly 35km from here.

The deceased has been identified as Pramod Rout, 50, a farmer of Baliapada village. The incident occurred early in the morning when Rout, who was on his way to the field, came in way of the female jumbo.

“A group of elephant was earlier spotted near the village last night, and we suspect that the baby elephant might have fallen into the well at an agricultural field in the morning,” said Krushna Das, a villager.

Das said both the female elephant and her calf were eating ripe mangoes in the field when the calf fell into the well.

“The elephant had become violent after her calf had fallen into the well. Unaware of the jumbo’s presence, the deceased came in her way,” said Athgarh district forest officer Arun Mishra.

Irate over the incident, the villagers did not allow forest officials to rescue the calf after they had reached the spot around 6am. The villagers had even ransacked a mobile van of the forest department.

Mobile forest officer Kishore Chandra Parida was allegedly injured in the attack by the villagers, who were demanding for immediate compensation for the family members of the deceased.

“After holding discussion with the villagers and in presence of local police, efforts were initiated to rescue the calf. With the help of a JCB machine a parallel path was dug along the well and the five-year-old male calf was rescued,” Mishra said.

The villagers had later blocked the National Highway No. 66 at Chandbali Chhak for over two hours to protest the elephant attack.

“It was because of the callousness on part of the forest officials that the farmer was killed. No step was taken to drive back the herd of elephants that had been spotted near the village,” said Umakant Sahu, another villager.

The road blockade was lifted after the forest officials announced an ex gratia of Rs 1 lakh and job to one member of the deceased’s family.

Wild elephants from Chandaka sanctuary frequently enter human settlements near Munduli and Athgarh.

According to the 2012 census, there are 131 elephants in the Athgarh forest division while measures need to be undertaken to frequently monitor the movements of the jumbos to put a check on man-elephant conflicts.

Earlier, an elephant had died of electrocution inside a steel plant at Athgarh on April 14. Similarly, a herd of six elephants had also strayed into high security zone of Aviation Research Centre (ARC) at Choudwar in January this year.