A 35-year old man was trampled to death by an elephant in a village near Pilloor dam, about 50 kilometres from Coimbatore.

Trouble began when news spread that a herd of elephants had entered into a banana plantation. A group of villagers from Athikadavu, including one Rangasamy, ganged up and went to the plantation to scare the elephants away around midnight yesterday.

After driving the elephants back into the jungles, the villagers returned home. It was only when Rangasamy’s wife reported him missing that the neighbours returned to the farm to look for him.

They found Rangasamy lying dead, with his head crushed, and immediately informed the forest department officials, who rushed to the spot. Soon, the senior police officials of the Pilloor Dam station arrived too and retrieved the body, which was then sent to the Mettupapalayam Government Hospital for postmortem.