The sanctuary officials, however, said that the elephant apparently died due to chocking since it had consumed maize powder soon after it was tranquilised.

The male elephant named Motilal had come out of the sanctuary limits on Thursday night and run amok.

The sanctuary staff had failed to control the 40-year-old pachyderm after it entered the nearby Godibari village.

A team of veterinarians were then called from the Nandankanan Zoological Park to tame the animal.

The locals, however, said that the elephant had come out of the sanctuary area as its Mahut was not on duty for the past several days.

The exact reason for the death of the jumbo would be known after the post-mortem was received.

The body of the elephant was buried after a team of experts from the Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology conducted post-mortem on it.

Motilal was rescued from Dhenkanal district in 2004 and was kept as a pet. It was used for transporting forest officials to interior locations in the sanctuary.