Dehradun, March 14: A pilgrim from Andhra Pradesh was trampled to death by an elephant in the Bhadrakali jungles of Rishikesh near here, officials said today.
The incident occurred yesterday when a bus, carrying pilgrims from Sirkakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, stopped near Bhadrakali jungles and the pilgrims got down from it.
As they were relaxing outside the bus, an elephant came out of the dense forest. Seeing the pachyderm, most of the pilgrims rushed back to their bus.
However, the elephant caught Gajadhar Panda (56) by its trunk and hit him repeatedly against the ground killing him on the spot.
The group had come to Haridwar for taking a holy dip in river Ganga during the ongoing Mahakumbh. Panda’s wife Sumitra was also with him when the incident took place.
Panda’s body has been handed over to her after postmortem, the officials said.
—–PTI