Stray elephant wreaks havoc in Siliguri

An elephant, which had strayed from the nearby Baikunthapur forest into Siliguri town, went on the rampage for around seven hours on Wednesday, damaging over 40 houses and some vehicles before it was tranquillised. The elephant was first spotted at Dabgram and Fulbari area of the north Bengal town in the early hours. Seeing the elephant, panic-stricken people started running helter skelter and forest personnel rushed to the spot to drive back the pachyderm to the forest. The forest personnel fired a tranquilliser dart at the jumbo, but it failed to have any effect on the elephant and instead it went berserk and turned its wrath on the houses, damaging walls and pillars. The police had to use water cannon to keep away curious onlookers as the elephant went from Ektiasal area to Haidar Para, Sibram Palli, Temple Road and some other pockets of the city and even flattened some vehicles at a car garage after flattening the boundary wall, a district officer said.