UP man guarding field mauled by tiger in Pilibhit

Pilibhit (UP), Sep 9 (PTI) A 50-year-old man who was guarding his field here was mauled to death allegedly by a tiger and the forest department has launched a probe into the incident, officials said on Monday.

The bloodied body of Kedari Lal, a resident of Baskehra village, was found in his field in the morning. He had deep wounds on his neck and face, allegedly after an attack by the animal from Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, they said.

Manish Singh, the divisional forest officer of Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, said he has inspected the site and provided necessary instructions to the response teams.

According to the local Madhotanda police, Lal's family, after finding his body, suspected that it was a tiger attack.

A release from the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve confirmed that Lal was attacked by a tiger at around 10.25 am in compartment 124 B of the Bhairon Beat in the Mala Range.

Following the report, IFS Bharat Kumar DK along with Ramesh Chauhan and Anjani Kumar Srivastava, both deputy divisional forest officers, and local forest staff, worked with the Madhotanda police to send the body for post-mortem examination.

The forest department's release also noted that at 10 am, a forest patrol team had seen the deceased near the forest boundary and had warned him to leave the area.

However, it was confirmed by Udham Singh, who was present at the scene, that Lal had re-entered the forest area, according to the statement.

The forest department has set up a trap near the site and requested higher-level permission to capture the tiger.

Dr Daksh Gangwar, a veterinary doctor from Lakhimpur Kheri, has been called to Pilibhit Tiger Reserve to assist in the operation. Forest monitoring teams are continuously patrolling the area near the incident site, it added. PTI COR KIS SKY SKY