A 60-year-old man was trampled to death by a wild elephant near a village inside a wildlife sanctuary in Chhattisgarh's Jashpur district in the wee hours on Wednesday, a forest department official said.
The incident occurred when Subhash Yadav was collecting forest produce near Narayanpur Pokhratoli village in the Badalkhol sanctuary forest range, the official said.
When Yadav did not return after a long time, his family started looking for him. They found his trampled body in the adjoining Thengna Kucha forest, he said.
Police and forest personnel also reached the spot and shifted the body.
The official said the deceased entered the forest despite being alerted about the movement of a herd of four elephants in the area.
The kin of the deceased was provided with an instant relief amount of Rs 25,000 and the remaining compensation of Rs 5.75 lakh will be given later, he said.
Human-elephant conflicts in the northern part of Chhattisgarh had been a major cause of concern for the last decade. The districts which have been facing the menace mainly are Surguja, Jashpur, Raigarh, Korba, Surajpur, and Balrampur.
According to the forest department, more than 230 people were killed in elephant attacks in Chhattisgarh in the last three years.