Politician crushed by elephant

2003-04-28 13:20

India - A politician in north India was crushed to death by his pet elephant on Sunday morning, police said.

Samajwadi (Socialist) Party leader Ram Lakhan Verma died instantlty in the incident that occurred in his village Tahapur in Ambedkarnagar near Faizabad, 210km from here.

Verma was a minister of forest and wildlife five years ago.

"The elephant was Verma's pet animal and had suddenly turned wild since Saturday. On hearing the news, Verma had rushed to his village from Lucknow," a senior police offcer said.

As Verma tried to control the animal on Sunday morning, the elephant jumped into a pond. Verma slipped on the muddy ground and the elephant crushed the 45-year-old politician to death.

"Often pet elephants turn wild during the mating season due to lack of a female companion and at such times it is very difficult to bring the elephant under control," a wildlife official said.

It took the local police over three hours before they could trap the elephant and chain it with the help of the local villagers.

- SAPA