MP: Tiger mauls farmer to death in Balaghat, villagers allege their warning ignored

Bhopal, May 3 (IANS) A man was mauled to death by a tiger in Balaghat (475 km from Bhopal) district of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday.

The victim, identified as Prakash Pane, a farmer aged 50, was suddenly attacked by the tiger while tending to his crops near Kudwa village of Katangi Range under Tirodi police station. The ferocious assault left him fatally wounded on the spot, with the predator consuming the lower part of his body, police officials said.

Shock and fury spread rapidly through the village, and soon, outraged locals gathered around the nearby forest post, demanding answers and action from the authorities.

“In fact, the villagers had intimated to the beat guard that a tiger was on the prowl in the area a couple of days ago, but he ignored their warning. Tigers often stray into fields from the nearby Pench-Kanha corridor. We urged forest department officials a number of times to take some precautionary measures so that such incidents of human life loss could be avoided,” Vijay Dabar, additional superintendent of police, told IANS.

The villagers insisted that they had been warning forest officials for over a week about a tiger spotted prowling through their fields. Despite repeated alerts, no preventive measures were taken, leading to yet another tragic loss.

Their anger was directed at what they called the negligence of the forest department, blaming them for allowing such incidents to continue unabated. The village has suffered fatalities due to tiger attacks before, and frustration among residents reached a boiling point.

According to the villagers and police sources, the tiger attacked Prakash early on Saturday morning at around 5 a.m. while he was going to his fields. The beast dragged him deeper into the field in its jaws before settling down, roaring several times as if in defiance. Normally, farmers arrive at their fields around 5 a.m., prepared to begin their day’s work. However, their routine was shattered when the tiger launched the brutal attack from behind. Terrified, the workers fled first but later gathered their courage and attempted to drive the beast away by throwing stones, but by then, it had already claimed its prey.

“We have pacified the enraged villagers, assuring them that necessary actions were being taken,” the police officer said, adding, “The body of the victim was recovered from the site of the attack and, after post-mortem examination, handed over to the family members.

As per rules, an immediate financial assistance of Rs 25000 has been extended to the victim’s family members, and an additional compensation amount of Rs 8 lakh has been given to them as per the rules of the forest department.”

The victim, according to officials, had suffered deep wounds across his body. The tiger had devoured part of his thigh, leaving behind horrifying evidence of the encounter. “The forest department will tranquilise the tiger and will soon shift it to some reserve,” the official said.

This incident follows a worrying pattern of increasing tiger attacks in the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve of Umaria district, where four people have been attacked within a month.

In a string of separate attacks, a man, a woman, and a 12-year-old child lost their lives, while another woman remains hospitalised following her injuries.

–IANS

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