Bahraich (Uttar Pradesh). A 65-year-old man died in a possible tiger attack in Sujauli forest range under Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary in Bahraich district. Rajpal Chauhan, a resident of Rampurwa Bankati village under Jauli Forest Range, said that his father Shivdutt Chauhan (65) had gone to guard the fields at around 5 pm on Saturday evening, where the tiger attacked and killed him. He said that a search was carried out from evening till night, but when he was not found, the search was conducted again in the morning and his mutilated body was recovered and they brought the body home.
Whereas Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary B. Shivshankar told PTI on Sunday that the bicycle of the deceased was found near bridge number 12 in Rampurwa forest, where there is a good number of tigers, hence it is being speculated that the death might have been caused by a tiger attack. He said that the post mortem of the dead body is being done, correct information will be available after the post mortem report and investigation.
DFO said, if the search done by the villagers and forest department team from Saturday evening till night did not yield any results then the search had to be done in the morning, before that the family members and the villagers themselves picked up the body from the forest in the early hours of Sunday. The footprints are not clear from where the family members say the body was found. “It seems that the marks got erased due to the movement of people.” “The place of death is being investigated,” he said. The officer said, “There is no provision in the Act for compensation for death due to attack in the forest. At present, till the investigation is completed, financial assistance of Rs 5,000 has been given to the family members of the deceased for the last rites.
