Annupur (Madhya Pradesh): A tiger has mauled a 60-year-old farmer in Machkheta forest beat, nearly one kilometer away from Manpur buffer zone in Bandhavgarh tiger reserve. Ranger of the buffer zone, Mukesh Ahirwar, said the farmer, identified as Ram Pratap Singh was a resident of Deori village. He was harvesting wheat on Tuesday morning when the tiger pounced upon him and killed him on the spot, Ahirwar said.
On reaching the area, a team of the forest department found that the big cat had dragged the farmer’s body to300 meters away from the spot where it killed him. The team, somehow, managed to send his body to a government hospital for a postmortem. The forest department gave a financial aid of Rs 1,000 to the family of Ram Pratap.
The department is also preparing papers for providing a financial aid of Rs 8,00,000 to the next of kin of the farmer. As the tiger is still in the area, there is panic among the villagers who are afraid of coming out of their houses, forest officials said.
According to villagers, Ram Pratap was living in Indwar area that comes under the submergence zone of Bansagardam, where he bought a plot of land and built a house. They further said that they were scared of living in the village because of the tiger, and that their request to the forest officials to fence the area went unheard. The incident sparked anger among the villagers whom the police and forest officials quelled.
