Haridwar: A 52-year-old ex-Armyman and BHEL employee was trampled to death by an elephant in Haridwar in the early hours of Wednesday. The victim, Virendra Singh, a native of Bijnor district, was attacked just metres away from his house in Sector 1. He was on his way to a nearby train station from where he was to travel to Saharanpur.Soon after the news of Singh’s death spread, angry BHEL employees gathered outside the DFO office and staged a protest. BHEL residential colony is close to Haridwar range of Rajajji Tiger Reserve and incidents of man-animal conflict are often reported here. This is the third death in the area from a pachyderm attack this year.DFO Haridwar Aakash Verma said, “Virendra Singh was an ex-Army man and worked in a BHEL plant as a crane operator. He was killed by an elephant on Wednesday and his body was found near Arya Samaj Mandir Sector 1. The body has been sent for autopsy and compensation will be given to victim’s family.”Verma said that orders had been issued to tranquilise the elephant so it can be relocated.Earlier this year, an elephant had killed two men following which the forest department had tranquilised the animal and relocated it deeper into Chilla forest range of RTR after installing a radio caller. Two months later, the elephant had crossed Ganga and was back in Haridwar range.

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