Trio poisons tiger for killing cow in Gondia

In an incidence of revenge killing, three people from Govindtola village in Gondia district killed a fully-grown tiger that had killed a cow belonging to one of them. Forest department officials have recovered the dead animal’s body parts and have arrested the trio.

The accused have been identified as Dharmaraj Sadaram Kirsan, Shalikram Gosheram Ambedare and Hansaraj Uike. The cow belonged to Shalikram.

According to officials, the tiger had killed the cow four days ago. “To seek revenge, Shalikram, along with the other two, poisoned the carcass. The tiger was killed when it returned to eat the meat,” said Mukesh Ganatra, divisional forest officer, Gondia. The accused are not professional poachers and do not have any connection with poaching gangs. “On December 10, when they found that the tiger had died, sensing serious trouble, the trio skinned the body and buried the body parts at different places,” Ganatra said.

The forest department officials got a tip-off about a tiger having been killed and buried near Mangezari village, some three kilometres from Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary. Following the tip, we began investigations and learnt that the accused have killed the tiger by poisoning the cow carcass. After confirming the series of incidents, we recovered the corpse from compartment number 108 of the forest,” Ganatra said.

The accused had buried the body parts at different places to hide the crime. The officials have recovered the skin, claws and whiskers of the killed tiger. “This is not a case of professional poaching. The trio, in the spur of the moment, decided to poison the carcass to seek revenge, but developed cold feet when the tiger was killed. The body was disposed off fearing arrest,” Ganatra said.