By IANS,
Kolkata : The elite Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur suffered a blackout and lockdown for more than three hours after a wild elephant entered the campus and caused panic among the students, faculty and staff, officials said.
The elephant entered the campus around 7 p.m. Sunday after knocking down a portion of the boundary wall. The staff hurriedly closed all campus gates, leaving one at the rear open for the tusker to exit from.
All lights of the campus were switched off as the elephant was turning violent and seemed to be charging at lights.
“A panic was triggered inside the campus after the elephant entered it. It took more than three hours to move out the elephant,” West Midnapore Additional Superintendent of Police (Kharagpur) Miraj Khalid told IANS.
“All the lights of the campus were switched off because the elephant was turning violent and running towards it,” sub-divisional police officer Dipak Sarkar said.
The jumbo had for the last three days created panic in the neighbourhood of Kharagpur. It destroyed dozens of houses in the nearby villages, trampled a farmer and injured an elderly woman.
Forest officials are yet to trace the animal.