An elephant trampled its mahout to death in Bihar after he asked the tusker to do sit-ups under the influence of liquor.
Bihar has imposed a total ban on the consumption, sale and manufacture of liquor since April last year.
The incident took place at Dehri village in Buxur district, some 130 kilometres south-west of Patna, on Monday. The mahout, identified as Jhunna Shukla, came drunk, stood before the tusker and ordered it to do sit-ups immediately.
Witnesses said initially the elephant ignored his orders but as the mahout began shouting under the influence of liquor, the animal wrapped his head in its trunk, thumped him on the ground and then put his feet on his head. He died on the spot.
The animal didn’t calm down even after killing its driver and didn’t allow anyone to go near him for over an hour. Forest department officials brought the animal under control and it was only then that the body could be recovered and sent for an autopsy.
“Apparently, the elephant got irritated by his order as it had noticed the differences in his [mahout's] voice and found he was not in his real state of mind,” a witness said.
According to villagers, the mahout had apparently consumed liquor in a neighbouring Uttar Pradesh town.
