Saragur: A wild elephant, which attacked two farmers riding a bike, killed one of them leaving another injured at Kadagere village yesterday.
While the deceased has been identified as Veerabhadregowda (62), the injured farmer is Mahesh, both from Kadagere village. Injured Mahesh is undergoing treatment at Vivekananda Hospital in Saragur.
The wild elephant which came out from Hediyala Forest Range in Bandipur Tiger Reserve on Sunday night in search of food and water, stayed put at the agri field. On Monday morning, the Forest Department officials and staff arrived at the spot and began to drive the wild elephant back to the forest.
Meanwhile, farmers Veerabhadregowda and Mahesh, who were proceeding from Kadagere village to get a sugar test for diabetes, were suddenly attacked by the wild elephant resulting in both of them falling on the road and injuring themselves.
While Mahesh escaped with minor injuries, seriously injured Veerabhadregowda was being shifted to a hospital by the Forest officials in their vehicle but he breathed his last midway.
As soon as the news of the death spread, residents of Kadagere and farmer leaders rushed to the spot and expressed their anger on the Forest Department besides seeking protection from wild animals. They said that they would not allow the body to be shifted for post-mortem till the demands were met.
MLA Anil Chikkamadu, who called the Forest officials over the phone, informed them to provide compensation to the family members of the deceased farmer and take steps to meet their demands.
Following instruction from the MLA, MLA Anil Chikkamadu’s wife Sowmya visited the spot and held talks with the Forest Department officials and asked them to provide compensation given by the State Government.
DCF Shubham Singh Tanwar said that the death of farmer Veerabhadregowda has brought immense pain. More staff would be deployed in this region to prevent such incidents in future and Rs. 20 lakh compensation cheque would be handed over to the family of the deceased besides providing job to one person of the family on contract basis. A monthly pension of Rs. 4,000 will be given to the wife of the deceased farmer for five years, he added.
Saragur Dy.SP Ravi, Circle Inspectors Prasanna Kumar and Gangadhar, SIs R. Kiran and Chandrahas and staff provided security. ACF D. Paramesh and Madhudevaiah, RFOs Krishna, Anithraj & Narayan were present.
This post was published on September 22, 2026 7:30 pm