India, March 6 -- An elephant used during the trial run of an intrusion detection system (IDS) on railway tracks in north Bengal attacked a retired army officer leading to his death on Thursday afternoon, people familiar with the matter said.

The victim, Colonel Sandip Chaudhury (retd), 57, a resident of Noida near Delhi, was engaged by a private company that was contracted to carry out the trial run of IDS by the North East Frontier Railway.

The IDS is designed to detect the movement of wild elephants and other wild animals on or near the railway tracks passing through wildlife corridors. The system sends alerts to the train's loco pilot, station master and control room if there are any animals on or near the railway tracks.

Officials...