In a heartbreaking incident a temple elephant brought for an house warming function ran amok, killing two elderly people at nearby Kottapadi on Friday, police said.
The one-eyed 54 year old tusker Thechikkottukavu Ramachandran the tallest elephant in the state has brought for the housewarming ceremony of Shaiju family.But for this family in Kottapadi in Guruvayur temple town of Kerala, the occasion turned out to be tragic. A elephant trampled two of the guests to death, and injured at least 7.
The house owner was said to be a member of the managing committee of the nearby temple, where the elephant had been brought to celebrate the occasion.
Narayanan Patteri (66), who came to attend the house warming was trampled to death on the spot. Another guest Murugan (60), was rushed to a private hospital in Kunnamkulam, but he succumbed to his injuries. The elephant, Thechikkottukavu Ramachandran, a famous but notorious one in Kerala, was brought to Chembalakulangara temple in Kottapadi. As Police said, Shaiju a businessman had sponsored the elephant for the temple festival which was also held on Friday. The elephant was first brought to their house before it was taken to the police. As the house warming ceremony was on, something alarmed the elephant and it ran amok.
A police officer at the Guruvayur station said there were percussion artists at the ceremony. “It is not clear what upset the elephant.Crackers were burst by someone in the next compound, percussion artists were performing too,” .
The tusker is branded the most dangerous captive elephant in Kerala. Apart from his latest victim, the elephant killed 11 other people and 3 elephants including Thiruvambadi Chandrashekharan, another celebrity elephant who used carry the Thiruvambadi Sri Krishna idol. Ironically, Thechikkottukavu Ramachandran is also the most popular tusker in the state with thousands of fans and multiple Facebook pages dedicated to him.
The elephant, earlier raised in Bihar as Moti Prasad brought to Kerala back in 1982 and sold to the Peramangalam Thechikottukavu temple who are its current owners. It lost its eye sight when the mahout hit him in the eye after the elephant refused to obey his orders given in Malayalam, a language the elephant could not understand. This turned him into a violent tusker and resulted in a long line of killings.
The Kerala High Court had banned the elephant from being paraded in public no less than 6 times, the last ban issued in 2016. Even though it continues to be paraded and covers anywhere between 70-80 temple festivals during the season.
A case under Indian Penal Code sections — 304(A) (causing death by negligence), 337 (causing hurt by endangering the life or personal safety of others) and 289 (negligent conduct with respect to animals) has registered against the mahout of the elephant, as police said.
