Asia's lone woman elephant-catcher, Parvati Barua, accused of causing the death of a pachyderm in Chhattisgarh, has accused former Union minister Maneka Gandhi and other 'vested interests' of launching a vilification campaign against her.

"The elephant died due to the negligence of the Chhattisgarh forest officials and I have been falsely blamed to cover a major goof-up," Barua, who addressed a press conference in Guwahati, said on Thursday.

"What does Maneka Gandhi know about elephants? Has she even spent an hour with a wild elephant to comment about the death," she asked.

Barua said Vivek Menon of the World Wildlife Fund and cinematographer Mike Pande were part of the group that had misled the Chhattisgarh government as well as Gandhi over the issue.

"Each and every allegation against me is false and reflects either the ignorance or crooked mindset of the persons involved in the vilification campaign," Barua said.

After the elephant was declared rogue, the Chhattisgarh forest department had captured it on February 6, she said.

"The chemical immobilisation [to capture the elephant] was not done professionally. It was darted six times and one dart hit the trunk. The wound did not heal and most probably led to the elephant's death," she said.

"I feel sad that the elephant did not survive. But there cannot be a bigger lie than the allegation made by these persons that I killed the elephant deliberately through an act of cruelty. Elephants are a way of life for me and I love elephants more than these persons who are shedding crocodile tears, trying to gain cheap publicity at my expense," Barua said in a statement.

The trainer, who comes from the princely family of Gauripur, was asked by the Chhattisgarh government to capture rogue elephants, who had killed over 30 people. Barua caught only one, Vasant Bahadur, before the controversy erupted.