Two days after the death of the rogue elephant ‘Maharaja,’ forest officials claim that the death of the elephant was due to fracture of the skull and a muscle tear when it repeatedly hit its head on the wooden enclosure.

An official told the Times of India, “The postmortem report shows that the elephant died of a fracture of the skull caused by repeated banging of its head on the wooden poles of the krawl. There was also a muscle tear.”

V Subbiah, District Forest Officer said that it was an accidental death and this is the first time an elephant has had such severe injuries on his forehead while trying to come out of the cage, according to The New Indian Express.

Senior forest officials denied any procedural lapses during the translocation of the elephant, which could have caused its death. They also claimed that the elephant was given a mild dose of sedative and the rumour of death due to overdose of sedatives is false, according to the TOI.

The officials said that the elephant was drowsy on Sunday due to the sedatives but was very restless on Monday and Tuesday. Around 4pmon Tuesday, it started banging its head on the wooden poles of the krawl and collapsed, said an official to TOI.

The postmortem was conducted by a team of seven veterinarians at Varakaliyar elephant camp in Topslip, where the joint director of animal husbandry, T Tamil Selvan was also present.