Man suspected to have been killed by a tiger or leopard

Gundlupet: A partially devoured body of a tribal man, who had gone to fetch fodder for his goat was found near Nanjegowdanakatte in Mangalagudda village bordering Bandipur Reserve Forest in the taluk. It is suspected that the tribal man may have been killed by a tiger or a leopard. The deceased has been identified as Basavaiah (50), a resident of Aadinakanive tribal hamlet in Bandipur limits and his mutilated body was found yesterday at 11 am.

On Monday morning, Basavaiah had gone to the forest to get fodder for his goats. As he did not come back even on Tuesday morning, Basavaiah’s father Sothamadaiah went in search of his son about a kilometre from the hamlet, bordering the forest, where he found a knife, rope and blood stained clothes and immediately informed the Forest Department officials.

Later, Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) personnel, who reached the spot, conducted a search near Nanjegowdanakatte, found the partially eaten body of Basavaiah. Bandipur Conservator of Forests (CF) and Project Tiger Director Dr. Ramesh Kumar, Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) Naveen, Range Forest Officer (RFO) Deepa, Circle Inspector Parashivamurthy, Sub-Inspector Sahebagowda, Shivashankarappa and staff Rangaswamy and Nagaraju conducted a spot inspection.

Post-mortem was conducted at the spot and the body was handed over to the family members. Basavaiah is survived by his wife Jayamma, son Kempa and daughter Kullamma. A case has been registered at Gundlupet Police Station.

Samples have been sent to a laboratory to know which animal had killed Basavaiah and the place where the body was found was inspected.

CF Dr. Ramesh Kumar said that taking into consideration that Basavaiah had entered into the forest illegally and was killed by wild animals, compensation cannot be provided. Discussions will be held to see if compensation can be provided in Government level on humanitarian grounds.