Representational photo.

PURULIA: An elephant appeared to take grave objection to a farmer relieving himself in the open on Wednesday and carried the man away wrapped in his trunk. The pachyderm ran almost 50 metres before dropping the panicking man to the ground and disappearing into the forest in Purulia district in West Bengal .

The area has been deserted since 4 am on Wednesday, when the incident took place. Niranjan Sahish, 55, lay in the field for some time before the forest department officials arrived and took him to the primary health care centre after which he was taken to a hospital.

“He received injuries to his legs and back but is out of danger,” a doctor said. Sahish told the officials that the fully grown elephant may have entered the village in search of food but panicked on seeing him.

As on any other day, Sahish had stepped out of his home in Ghatbera village, near the Ayodhya Hills in Purulia, and gone to a nearby field to relieve himself.

