A 60-year-old woman was reportedly killed by a Royal Bengal Tiger in Bihar’s Valmikinagar Tiger Reserve (VTR).
The victim has been identified as Chhatra Devi who had gone into the forest to graze her livestock, including goats.
Her family members grew suspicious when Devi did not return home in the evening. To trace her, the villagers entered a few hundred metres inside the forest area. It was then that they found Devi lying in a pool of blood.
“Apparently, the circumstantial evidence suggests she was attacked by a tiger. The victim has deep mark around the head, neck and teeth marks on thighs and other parts of the body,” said SK Pathak, the range officer of the Manguraha forest area.
The police said a case of unnatural death was registered on Wednesday while the victim’s body has been sent for autopsy. “Her family will be given a compensation as per the government rules,” averred District Forest Officer, Ambarish Mall.
Spread over 900 square kilometres, the Valmikinagar Tiger Reserve has around 30 tigers on the sprawling forest cover, which also shares a border with the Chitwan National Park in Nepal (in the north) and Sheopur Range (in the west) in Uttar Pradesh.
The area is now getting infamous for the man-animal conflict. A fortnight back, a Royal Bengal Tiger was found dead in the Govardhan forest area of the VTR.
Published 11 February 2021, 16:38 IST