Chandrapur, Oct 25 (PTI) A 58-year-old farmer was attacked and killed by a tiger in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra, informed a senior forest department officer on Saturday.
The deceased was identified
as Vasudev Sitkura Wethe, a resident of Akapur village in the Talodhi forest range area under Nagbhid tehsil.
According to the officer, the tiger that attacked the farmer had been frequently sighted in the area for the last one week.
Villagers had alerted the Talodhi Forest Range Office about the wild animal’s presence.
Wethe went to his field, located about 1.5 km from the village, on Friday evening to inspect his paddy crop. When the cultivator did not return home till late night, worried family members and villagers launched a search for him, but failed to locate him.
Wethe’s body was found near his farmland on Saturday morning, said the forest officer.
On receiving information about the tiger attack, Range Forest Officer Laxmi Shah, along with forest department staff and police officials, reached the spot and conducted a ‘panchnama’ (collection of details at site).
However, enraged villagers surrounded the officials and accused the forest department of negligence despite prior warnings about the tiger’s presence in the area, said sources.
Family members of the deceased refused to allow the body to be moved until authorities assured them of safety and took firm measures to trap the wild animal, they said.
Chandrapur district in eastern Maharashtra houses the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve. PTI COR RSY
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