Mhow (Madhya Pradesh): A sixty-year-old man died after receiving grievous injuries in the deep forest area on the outskirts of Malendi village on Sunday morning. People are suspecting that the same tiger, which is wandering in and around Mhow since last one month, have killed him.
Malendi village sarpanch Tulsiram Banarasi said, ‘Sunderlal Banarasi (60) had gone for grazing his cattle in the nearby forest early Sunday. At around 10.30 am, some children grazing their goats in the forest noticed the body of Sunderlal lying between the bushes. We got frightened over this and ran towards the village to inform residents. Other residents also reached there and they found that there was a deep cut on his throat, due to which the victim suffered severe blood loss and died. The villagers got very angry over this and they informed forest officials’.
Babbu Yadav of Ashapura village told media persons that when he was working in his field, he noticed the tiger passing through the stone crusher and going towards Malendi village at around 9.30 am.
Mhow forest range officer Vaibhav Upadhyay said, ‘I and my team reached the spot where Sunderlal was killed and recorded the pugmarks of the animal that had killed Sunderlal. Pugmarks suggest that the animal is bigger than a leopard and it could be the same tiger. Document formalities for claim are under process for his death’.
Indore DFO Narendra Pandwa also reached Malendi village and met the aggrieved family. He handed over 25k cash to the family for the last rites, after which he told media persons that Rs 8 lakh will be given to the next of kin as compensation for the death of Sunderlal.
‘Operation Freedom’ affected
‘Operation Freedom’ which was started by the forest department at MCTE in Mhow continued on Sunday and the movements of a leopard were noticed since early morning hours. Forest and army team was seen searching for the leopard everywhere in the airfield area, which is part of the MCTE.
The operation began on Saturday and the target of the team was to conclude it on Sunday evening. Mhow ranger Vaibhav Upadhyay said that following the incident of Malendi where a 60 year-old-man was killed, the whole focus of the department got shifted towards that area. Despite that, while other team members were taking part in the operation to ensure that the people living inside MCTE could live without fear. Upadhyay said that the forest department will declare MCTE as a leopard-free zone after a meeting with MCTE’s senior officers on Monday morning.
