Mumbai:
A 25-year-old man was on Sunday crushed to death by an elephant inside a civic body run Byculla zoo here when he entered the mammoth animal's enclosure, police said.
The man jumped from backside wall and entered the enclosure of the elephants at Veermata Jijamata Prani Sangrahalay in south Mumbai and tried to attract the attention of the two animals named Laxmi and Anarkali, said Sanjay Tripati, Deputy Superintendent of the zoo.
Subsequently Laxmi attacked the man and crushed his head with her heavy leg, injuring him seriously, he said.
The security guards were deployed at the front side of the gate and by the time they found the man, the elephant had already attacked him, he added.
Byculla Police Station Senior Inspector T Ghodge said that the injured was rushed to J J hospital where he was declared dead.
"The man is yet to be identified. We found nothing to establish his identity. There was one match box in his pocket," Ghodge said.
"Preliminary probe indicates that there was no negligence on part of the zoo authority. The man himself went inside the enclosure after which the incident occurred," he said.