A 63-year-old farmer died after he was attacked by a herd of elephants in Assam’s Boko district on Wednesday, officials said. The incident took place when the farmer, Warlington W Sangma, was guarding his paddy field from the elephants in Tangabari in Jongakhuli reserve forest.

According to the villagers, the wild elephants trampled and dragged Sangma around the paddy field for a few minutes, resulting in his death.

The victim was a resident of Rajapara, near Jongakhuli village, officials said.

The Boko Police and members of the Singra Forest Range have recovered the victim’s body and sent it for postmortem.

Following the incident, officials made announcements on loudspeakers around several areas, alerting the locals of the increasing attacks by elephants.

“We also urged the villagers to clear the paths which wild elephants use to commute, so that the conflicts will be decreased,” Singra Ranger Bhargab Hazarika said.

According to West Kamrup DFO Subodh Talukdar, the attacks by the tuskers are rising due to the encroachment in the reserve forest land.

“Villagers are now starting deforestation of the forest land and horticulture crops like banana, battle nuts, pineapples and also cultivating paddy in the paddy land under the forest reserve areas. Due to this, wild elephants suffer from food scarcity and enter the farmlands situated in the forest lands,” Mr Talukdar said.

He added, “Now the situation is more grim because people are demanding to enact the Forest Rights Act 2006. We have to survey the whole area so that we can find out the encroachments in the reserve forest area and take necessary action accordingly.”

On Tuesday, the bodies of two elephants were found in two different places under the West Kamrup Divisional Forest area in the Kamrup district. Villagers from Pakharapara and nearby areas under the Singra Range Office in Boko found the bodies in a paddy field, officials said.

As per the preliminary investigation, the elephants were suspected to be electrocuted – an illegal method used to chase wild elephants in order to protect their farms.

The state forest team also found some materials used for electrocution from the spot.