THRISSUR: Three elephants sparked pandemonium at the
Guruvayoor
temple after they ran amok, causing the death of a mahout on Sunday.
The tusker named Sreekrishnan was the first one to run amok, followed by the other two, Gopikannan and Ravikrishnan, leading to mayhem at the crowded temple.
The three jumbos were being paraded in the Sheeveli procession when they turned unruly. There was heavy rush of pilgrims as it was a Sunday and the
Sabarimala season has got underway. A near stampede followed as devotees ran for cover.
Sreekrishnan, which stormed through the temple premises, turned on its mahout and gored him to death. The temple authorities identified the deceased handler as Kothachira Veluthedath Subash (37) of Peringode near
Kunnamkulam
.
As many as 12 people, including an elderly woman and a boy, suffered injuries in the commotion that followed.
Sreekrishnan was finally brought under control after it got stuck in the old 'prasadam' distribution counters. The other two elephants were tethered after they emerged out of the temple. The priest, who was holding the 'thidambu' (replica of the idol) atop the elephant Gopikannan had a narrow escape as he jumped off from its back when the tusker trundled into a narrow passage in front of the Bhagavathi temple inside the main temple complex.
V K Venkitachalam, secretary,
Heritage Animal Task Force
(HATF) said the incident has highlighted the need for transferring the 51 elephants maintained by the
Guruvayur Devaswom
at its elephant camp to a sanctuary inside the forest. He demanded that the elephants must be set free from their chains inside the fenced sanctuary.
He pointed out that 66 such incidents of elephants running amok have taken place in the past 12 months, all involving jumbos of the Guruvayur Devaswom Board. The devaswom authorities were continuing with the practice of parading the elephants inside the temple even when it is crowded, turning a blind eye to the massive risk involved, he said.
A section of devotees pointed that Sreekrishnan has a history of turning violent and had gored a devotee inside the temple a couple of years ago. They said the devaswom authorities should not have paraded the elephant in front of such a huge crowd.