COIMBATORE: The decomposed body of a tusker, aged between six and eight years, was found in a lunch hall of a school. The body was found in an abadoned noon meal centre on Friday evening in the high forest estate near Valparai in the Anamalai Tiger Reserve, next to a government school. The forest rangers suspect that the elephant to have died three months ago.

The noon meal centre was left unused as the school was shifted three years ago. The elephant's body was found in the kitchen when officials visited here for inspection ahead of the local body elections. Officers immediately informed the forest officials and Range Officer A Manikandan and his team arrived at the spot and examined it.

Veterinary doctor K Sukumar said that the elephant may have strayed from the herd in search of food and water and may have been trapped inside the building. The building may have collapsed when the elephant tried to get out and it died as it was unable to escape. The body was lying in the middle of bricks and stones. The postmortem was completed on spot. Forest officials have said that the hair was collected from the elephant's tail for DNA testing.