Berserk elephant smashes homes, terrorises Bengal town for 7-hrs

Jalpaiguri: A rampaging elephant on Wednesday strayed from Baikunthapur forest area and entered Siliguri town damaging buildings there, police said.

The elephant was first spotted at Dabgram, Fulbari areas within ward numbers 30 and 40 of Siliguri town, which falls within the limits of Jalpaiguri district.

Panic-stricken people started running helter skelter and Forest personnel rushed to the spot to drive away the pachyderm to the forest.

Policemen tried to control the mob and asked the people not to panic.

They fired tranquiliser shots at the jumbo, the effects of which were yet to begin, the forest personnel said. Meanwhile, it went beserk and turned its wrath on the houses damaging walls and pillars.

Baikunthapur Forest Ranger Sanjoy Dutta said five to six buildings were damaged by the pachyderm.

The elephant is now at Ashigarh, another densely populated area of the town.

Presence of curious onlookers have led to traffic snarls which are giving a trying time to forest and police personnel who are waiting to see whether the elephant is showing symptoms of being tranquilised.