Jamshedpur: A tusker strayed into several villages in West Singhbhum district, damaging houses, destroying crops over large areas and consuming grains stored in homes.The adult male elephant entered Dodgua, Sosopi, Tentudiposi, Chigli, Baihatu, Kuntujhor and Jodapokhar villages in the Jagannathpur block under the Chaibasa forest division, triggering panic among residents.While villagers suspect the elephant to be the same tusker that killed 20 people across Jagannathpur, Tonto, Goikera, Noamundi and Majhgaon blocks in January, Chaibasa divisional forest officer (DFO) Aditya Narayan clarified that it was a different animal. “It is not the killer tusker. This elephant went on a rampage in several villages, causing damage to property. No human casualty has been reported in the recent incidents,” Narayan said.Recounting the incident, Virendra Balmuchu, a resident of Tentudiposi village, said the tusker entered the villages around midnight and damaged around a dozen houses. “The elephant consumed rice and wheat stored in the houses before it was driven back into the forest after nearly two hours of chase,” he said.The tusker also destroyed several acres of paddy, vegetable and fruit crops before being pushed towards the Mihilimurum forest on the Jharkhand–Odisha border.Villagers said they managed to chase away the elephant using fire torches and crackers but feared the animal could return. “It is not possible to keep the rogue tusker away from human habitation for long unless the forest department takes concrete action,” said Ratan Tudu, a local resident.A senior forest official said a dedicated team would be deployed in vulnerable areas to relocate the tusker to a safer habitat far from human settlements.Narayan also said forest teams were continuing efforts to track the killer tusker and added that there was currently no report of it straying towards the Jharkhand border.