Maharashtra: Woman killed by tiger, angry villagers attack forest officials

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A 65-year-old woman was reportedly killed by a tiger in the buffer zone of Pench Reserve in Maharashtra's Nagpur district following which the angry villagers attacked the forest officials, an official said on Wednesday, according to the PTI.

The woman identified as Nita Kumbhare was killed by a tiger on Tuesday evening, stated a release issued by Prabhu Nath Shukla, Deputy Director of Pench Forest Reserve, according to the PTI.

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The PTI reported, the incident set off an angry reaction from the locals of Jhinjhiriya village, which led to the attack on the forest department personnel who had rushed to the spot after the woman was killed on Tuesday evening.

The forest officials later held a meeting with the locals and assured them that the tiger in the prowl will be captured, as per the PTI.

"When officers and staff of the forest department reached the spot they were attacked by the angry villagers, leaving some forest guards injured", senior police and forest officers held a meeting with villagers and pacified them, an official said, the news agency reported on Wednesday.

Shukla further said that an assistance of Rs 5 lakh was immediately given to the family of the deceased and the remaining amount of compensation will be released soon.

He said a team of forest department personnel is patrolling the region to trace and capture the tiger, the PTI reported.

In an another incident, last month, four people were injured in a tiger attack in Khairthal-Tijara district after the animal strayed out of Rajasthan's Sariska National Park on Thursday, officials had said, reported the PTI.

The injured were admitted to hospitals and forest department teams are trying to tranquilise the tiger 'ST 2303' that entered the farms near Darbarpur village, Forest Minister Sanjay Sharma said, as per the PTI.

Darbarpur village development officer said that the movement of the tiger was tracked near a government school and locals have been asked to restrict from going to the area in view of the threat of tiger attack.

A team is camping in the area to tranquilise the tiger while another team has been called from Jaipur, Sharma said.

According to a local, villagers working in farms spotted a tiger which created panic and nearly 100 people gathered and started tracking the tiger.

(with PTI inputs)