It’s all over for Chinna Thambi, India’s most loved rogue elephant.

A team of forest officials and captive elephants captured him on the morning of February 15 ending his free run.

The team cornered him at a sugarcane field in Udumalaipet in South India and lured him outside with a jackfruit, his favourite snack. As he came out they tranquilised him with dart guns and tied him up with ropes with the help of captive elephants.

The reluctant behemoth was then loaded to a truck which will take him to his new home, an elephant camp at Top Slip forest, where he will be trained.

Chinna Thambi was captured at a Thadagam village in Coimbatore late January after local villagers went on protest against his crop-raiding habits. Though forest officials moved him to a forest 80 kms away, he refused to stay put.

He emerged out and resumed raiding crops sparking off protests from farmers near his new home.

Despite his notoriety, Chinna Thambi was also hugely popular as he would never attack anyone. Known as a gentle giant, he would just limit himself to raiding crops and even homes for food.

Chinna Thambi fan clubs sprouted and there was a campaign in recent days to keep him free. But on February 13, ruling on a petition, the Madras High Court directed forest officials to capture him, sealing his fate.