The family members of Sandeep Choudhury, a former lieutenant colonel of the Indian army who had been trampled to death by a kunki elephant of the forest department on Thursday, reached Alipurduar on Friday to take his mortal remains to Delhi for the last rites.

Choudhury, who was working in a private company based in Noida, was trampled to death in the Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR).

He was in the BTR with others during a practical demonstration of the intrusion detection system that the railways plan to introduce along the tracks to prevent the deaths of elephants after colliding with locos.

Jonaki, the kunki elephant brought to the site for demonstration, became agitated apparently over the repeated honking of a train and attacked Choudhury who was nearby.

On Friday afternoon, Suresh, Sandeep's brother who lives in Jabalpur, reached the Alipurduar district hospital with Niraj Jain, their brother-in-law from Baroda. The duo had reached Guwahati by air and then came to Alipurduar by road.

Later, two other relatives of the deceased also reached the hospital.

Representatives of the private company where Choudhury, 57, used to serve were present at the hospital, apart from officers from the Binnaguri army cantonment in Jalpaiguri.

“We came to know about his death from his wife. It is our ill luck that we lost him. After he retired from the army five years back, we told him to stay at home. He, however, loved to stay engaged and joined the private company,” said Suresh.

“The most unfortunate thing is that his daughter’s marriage has been fixed for next month,” the bereaved brother added.

Around 3pm, Suresh, along with others, left for Guwahati with Sandeep’s body. They will take a flight to Delhi, said sources.

Officers of the Buxa Tiger Reserve are perplexed by the “unusual” behaviour of kunki Jonaki.

The female elephant, which is 56 years old, has been working for over two decades and has always been calm and quiet, they said.

“The elephant is supposed to retire after another four years. We are surprised by its sudden change of mood and suspect that the loud train horn left it furious,” said a forester.

After the incident, Jonaki was kept at the pilkhana (enclosure of domesticated elephants) in the Cheko forest beat of the BTR.

“It is under observation. After yesterday’s incident, no aggression is visible in its behaviour,” said a source.

A retired forester, who had extensively worked in north Bengal, said there were instances when domesticated elephants occasionally turned violent.

“Even mahouts have lost their lives in such cases. It is necessary to keep a watch on their movements and behaviour and those who are not trained to handle the elephants should maintain a safe distance to avoid such mishaps,” he said.