In a suspected case of food poising, a teenage female elephant reportedly died after eating crops at Raikata Kacharigaon in Hojai district on Monday morning.

According to initial reports, the pachyderm is believed to have ventured outside the Komorakata forest reserve in search of food.

Speaking to the media, one of the local people said, “We found the elephant lying unconscious in the paddy field on Monday morning and accordingly, a huge people gathered here. We have already informed the forest official about the incident. Human-elephant conflict is quiet prevalent in Raikata, sometimes; forest official also comes here for a patrolling in the morning, but, not in the night hours. We are not dependent on forest department.”

Meanwhile, after learning about the occurrence, a team of forest officials arrived on the scene and launched an investigation.