Ex-army officer dies in elephant attack during IDS trial on north Bengal tracks | Kolkata

KOLKATA: An elephant used during the trial run of an intrusion detection system (IDS) on railway tracks in north Bengal attacked a retired army officer leading to his death on Thursday afternoon, people familiar with the matter said.

The victim, Colonel Sandip Chaudhury (retd), 57, a resident of Noida near Delhi, was engaged by a private company that was contracted to carry out the trial run of IDS by the North East Frontier Railway.

The IDS is designed to detect the movement of wild elephants and other wild animals on or near the railway tracks passing through wildlife corridors. The system sends alerts to the train’s loco pilot, station master and control room if there are any animals on or near the railway tracks.

Officials said the incident took place at 1:30pm when the trial run of IDS between Rajabhatkhawa and Alipurduar railway stations in north Bengal was in progress. NEF Railway general manager Chetan Kumar Shrivastava was among those who were present at the time.

“At the time of testing the IDS at Rajabhatkhawa in Alipurduar, an employee of the contractual agency met with an accidental death after inadvertently getting too close to an elephant. The elephant pushed him and he fell into a ditch. He was immediately rushed to a hospital in Alipurduar where the doctors declared him dead,” said a spokesperson of the NER Railway.

A forest department official who was at the spot said two elephants, Jonaki and Mumtaz, were brought from the Buxa Tiger Reserve for the trial run since the system was supposed to detect the presence of elephants near the tracks..

“While Mumtaz along with all the officials was on one side of the track, Jonaki was on the other side. The elephant suddenly got excited after a passenger train passed that way and charged at Chaudhury who was standing close to the elephant,” said a forest department official present at the spot.

A police officer said the body has been sent for autopsy.

West Bengal accounts for the third highest number of elephant deaths on railway tracks after Assam and Odisha. According to data placed in the Lok Sabha in July 2024, at least 10 elephants died in West Bengal after being hit by trains between April 2019 and March 2024. Assam reported 24 deaths and Odisha reported 16 deaths during the same period.