A herd of wild elephants on Tuesday entered close to Siddaramanahundi, the birthplace of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, about 15 km from here.
Five elephants, including two tuskers and a calf, were noticed at Inam Uttanahalli, which is located between Siddaramanahundi and Kuppegala, in the early hours of Tuesday. They stayed put in a thickly populated shrub land.
As news of the elephants straying into the village spread, hundreds of villagers gathered to see them. A large contingent of forest staff, led by Deputy Conservators of Forest Karikalan and Kamala Karikalan rushed to the spot and tried to drive the elephants back through the route by which they had entered the village.
The elephants are suspected to have entered either from Kollegal or Malavalli on Monday night.
Crackers were burst to scare the jumbos back into the forest. The operation went on through the day, but till late evening, the forest personnel had been unable to get the herd moving.
Superintendent of Police Abhinav Khare and a police team also rushed to the spot to control the crowd. Forest officials expressed hope of driving the elephants back into the forest by Wednesday morning.
