This story is from November 28, 2020

Elephant kills mahout during wedding ceremony in Bihar's Siwan district

An elephant ran amok and killed the ‘mahout’ during a wedding ceremony in Siwan district late on Thursday evening. Three other mahouts, who were called in from neighbouring places to control the elephant, received injuries in the process.
Elephant kills mahout during wedding ceremony in Bihar's Siwan district
Representative image
PATNA: An elephant ran amok and killed the ‘mahout’ during a wedding ceremony in Siwan district late on Thursday evening. Three other mahouts, who were called in from neighbouring places to control the elephant, received injuries in the process.
The incident took place at around 9pm at Hariharpur Lalgarh village under Tarwara police station in Siwan district. A show of horses, elephants and camels was organized to mark the wedding of the daughter of one Parshuram Ram.
A member of the marriage party burst crackers during ‘dwar’ puja, a pre-wedding ceremony.
One of the two elephants ran amok as soon as crackers burst. People ran helter-skelter for safety as the elephant started damaging a portion of the community hall, a hand-pump on its premises and also some furniture. The mahout tried to control the elephant but in vain.
The tusker became so furious that it crushed its mahout, identified as Munna Sai of Dumri village in Siwan district, leading to his instant death. As the situation went out of control, some residents informed the police about the incident. A police team somehow managed to divert the attention of the elephant with the help of guns and escorted it to the Yadavpur ‘chaur’ (wetland).
Some mahouts like Madan Mian, Qurban Mian and Rohit Singh were called in from neighbouring places to control the elephant. However, three of them suffered injuries, one of them seriously, in the process and were rushed to the primary health centre at Jamo Bazar for treatment.
Tarwara police station SHO Pramod Kumar said on Friday that a police team rushed to the spot after getting information from local residents. “The elephant’s owner also visited the spot and inquired about the incident. The family members of Sai took the body as they were not ready for postmortem,” he said over the phone.
The locals said the marriage party had come from Sarari under Goreyakothi police station in Siwan district. Divisional forest officer of Siwan Sunil Kumar was not available for his comments.
The SHO, however, said the use of horses, elephants and camels in wedding ceremony in rural areas is a common feature. When reminded of the Covid-19 pandemic, he said, “There is no any specific instruction from the government on the use of animals in the wedding ceremonies.”
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