An elephant calf was found dead in Adtale Bedrupane of Aranthodu village near Sullia of Dakshina Kannada on Monday.
The body of the one-year-old female elephant was found on a farmland in the morning. It had multiple injuries.
A herd of wild elephants barged into farmlands in the same area on Sunday night and destroyed crops.
Forest Department officials suspect that the calf was part of the herd and it might have been attacked by a male elephant in the group or an elephant which was not part of the herd.
Officials said that veterinary doctors who conducted the post-mortem examination said that the calf had injury marks scattered all over its body and that internal injuries had caused bleeding, blood clots and damage to its organs.
Its body was buried in the area after post-mortem.