The guard, 32-year-old Ranjit Medhi, was on night patrol when the rhino attacked him from behind near the Dusuti anti-poaching camp under the Bagori range of the national park around midnight. He succumbed to his injuries at the Kaliabor hospital in Nagaon district a few hours later.

Medhi, a homeguard, was asked to serve the national park as a forest guard along with 99 others about six months back following a spurt in rhino killings.

He lacked formal training as a forest guard.

Medhi came from Kahiguri Gandhibor village in Nagaon district.

S.N. Buragohain, the park’s director, said Medhi was part of a four-member group of homeguards who had set out on night patrol from the Dusuti camp.

“Medhi was the last of the four guards, including one forest guard, who were walking in a column. The other guards said that they heard the sounds of a charging rhino before the animal rammed into Medhi,” he said.

The director, quoting the other guards, said even before they could react, the rhino vanished into the forests.

“Though rhinos don’t attack people like this, the guards might have come too close to the animal for comfort,” he added.

Buragohain said Medhi had rejoined duty on November 14 along with five others. “He had served in the park earlier but rejoined about a week back,” he said.

No training is imparted to homeguards, unlike forest guards, who are trained in batches at the forest training centre at Makum in Tinsukia district.

“They (the homeguards) learn during the course of the job,” the director said.

Borgohain said the main job of a homeguard at Kaziranga was to monitor the poachers.

“They (homeguards) have virtually no knowledge of forest life when they first join. But one has to undergo comprehensive training to become aware of the inherent dangers in a forest,” an official said.