Another heart-wrenching incident has come to light in the wildlife conservation history of Madhya Pradesh, where a tiger was killed by poisoning it in revenge for cattle hunting. Showing promptness, the joint team of West Chhindwara Forest Division and Satpura Tiger Reserve (STR) not only recovered the body of the tiger but also arrested four people including the main accused who carried out this sensational incident.
The incident came to light when the buffer team of Satpura Tiger Reserve and the team of Western Forest Division were tracing the location of the radio-collared tiger. Searching was going on in Sangakheda area since Thursday evening. At around 8:30 am on Friday morning, a dead body of a cattle (bull) was found near room numbers P-266 and P-262 of Chestam Beat. Upon suspicion, when a thorough investigation was conducted with the help of the dog squad, the body of a tiger buried in the ground nearby was recovered.
revenge and intrigue
When the main accused Udesing (50 years old, resident of Chestam) was taken into custody and strictly interrogated, he made shocking revelations. The accused told that a few days ago the tiger had hunted his bull. To avenge his loss, Udesinga mixed a deadly pesticide called ‘urea’ in the body of the dead bull. When the tiger again returned to eat its prey, it died on the spot after eating the poisoned meat. To destroy the evidence, the accused along with his other associates had buried the tiger in the forest itself.
Four accused in police custody
Apart from Udesing, the Forest Department has arrested Bisanlal Shilu (Putaiam), Manohar Singh (Bob Jhirna, Narmadapuram) and Kailal (Kuchikhoh) in this case. A case has been registered against all of them under various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act.
On Friday evening, Satpura Tiger Reserve Area Director Rakhi Nanda and West Chhindwara Forest Divisional Officer (DFO) Sahil Garg cremated the dead tiger as per protocol. The department is now minutely investigating other aspects of this incident as well. The arrested accused will be presented in the court soon.