Bantala: The fear of Royal Bengal tigress Sundari continued to haunt the villagers residing in the Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary after it killed a bullock at Kumuri village under Kothabhuin panchayat under this block in Angul district Monday.
The incident comes a day after the tigress mauled a farmer to death and bruised a local scribe Sunday. The stray bullock was grazing in the village when the big cat attacked and killed it.
The tigress is reported to have come near Gauda Sahi in Tainsi village where people are in a state of panic after it killed the farmer.
The death of the farmer sparked wide-spread tension in the area. ACCF Sudarshan Panda and DFO V Kartik accompanied by the SP were discussing with the agitators when some miscreants mingled among them and pelted stones at the visiting officials, leaving them injured.
They even pelted stones at the official jeeps of the SP and forest officers and their drivers. Police had to cane charge them to bring the situation under control.
However, the irate mob refused to relent and set fire to two police vans, four jeeps of police station and overturned them. Police retaliated by using tear gas and rubber bullets.
Later, Sunday night, the irate mob ransacked and torched the Pampasar range office, Kumuri beat house, Baghamunda beat house, Tainsi beat house, Hinjadoli beat house.
The agitating villagers earlier in the day had detained nine forest officials including an ACF, the forest rangers of Pampasar and Purunakote ranges, a forester, two guards and three watchers in the community hall of the village.
However, among them forester Dharmendra Pradhan of Kumuri beat house had gone missing after the incident and there is no trace of him.
Thirteen platoons of police force have been deployed at Kothabhuin playground near Kumuri beat house to maintain law and order as tension remained palpable in the area.
ACCF Subhendu Behera Monday handed over an ex-gratia of Rs 40,000 and Rs 20,000 from the District Red Cross Fund to the bereaved family of Trinath Sahu. He assured of a compensation of Rs 4 lakh and service to the next of Sahu’s kin after receiving the post-mortem report.
Meanwhile, a team, comprising experts from the College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry of the Odisha University of Agriculture Technology (OUAT), Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar and gun assistants and officials of Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, has reached Satkosia. However, the team is yet to proceed to Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary due to the prevailing tension at Tainsi village, reports said.
The Royal Bengal tigress Sunday had mauled farmer Trinath to death near Tainsi village when he had gone to a nullah for fishing in the wee hours. On being informed, a team of forest officials reached the village. The villagers reportedly thrashed them and detained assistant conservator of forests (ACF) Srikant Behera.
Besides, the villagers vandalised the van of Angul SP. The angry villagers also locked five forest officials who were engaged in tracking the movement of the cub in a house.
They also staged a demonstration demanding immediate translocation of the tigress, compensation of Rs 50 lakh for the bereaved families and job for a kin of the deceased.
Hours after killing Trinath, the tigress attacked a local journalist. Raghunath Sahu, a reporter of a private news channel was attacked when he had gone to the spot to collect information about the incident.
Sundari had allegedly mauled a 35-year-old woman to death at Hatibari village September 12 when she was taking bath in a pond near the forest.
The incident triggered violence as scores of villagers demanded the relocation of the tigress.
PNN