Jharkhand: Wild elephant enters Ranchi, triggering panic among locals

A wild elephant entered Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi on Friday morning, February 27, 2026, causing panic among the locals, a forest official said.

Jumbo was moving around Hawai Nagar area and a forest team was deployed to move the animal away from the city, he said.

Ranchi District Forest Officer (DFO) Srikant Verma said, “The elephant probably deviated from its route and entered the city. Since it is school time for children, we are taking all safety precautions.” PTI.

He said elephants often come to Dhurwa dam from Halhu forest area.

Another official said the elephant was spotted near the National Institute of Advanced Manufacturing Technology around 5 am.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren had recently expressed concern over the increasing number of deaths due to human-elephant conflicts in the state and instructed the authorities to develop a mechanism to ensure that no human deaths occur due to attacks by the animal.

He said around 27 people had died due to elephant attacks in many districts in the last few months, including Ramgarh, Bokaro, Hazaribag, Chaibasa, Jamshedpur, Lohardaga, Gumla and Dumka, and this was a “matter of serious concern”.