The elephant escaped after it was sedated and it was tied. The forest department staff is keeping a watch on its movements.

The Forest Department’s operation to capture the tusker, which was responsible for the death of a 65-year-old farmer at Kanaguppe in Belur taluk on April 12, failed. The elephant darted with the tranquiliser and succeeded in escaping despite efforts to capture the animal with the help of kumki (trained) elephants.

The Forest Department began the operation to capture the animal on April 15. The ground staff traced the animal to Keragodu. As part of the operation, the officials sedated the animal with a tranquilliser dart. Later, they tied the animal with the help of ropes and administered medicine to revive it from sedation. “It continued to push very hard and ran away, snapping the rope," said Sourabh Kumar, DCF of Hassan.

The efforts of the kumki elephants to stop the animal did not succeed. The DCF has formed a team to track its movement with the help of drones. “We are tracking its movements and alerting the people in the area to be cautious. The pieces of rope used to tie the animal were still on the animal. However, by Thursday afternoon, it got relieved off the rope around its neck. There is still one rope around one of its legs”, the officer said

Raja Shetti, a farmer, was killed by the elephant when he was on the way to his farm on April 12. Following the incident, local people staged a protest and demanded a permanent solution to the human-elephant conflict in the area.