Gundlupet: A Range Forest Officer (RFO), who had gone for an inspection after a tiger was sighted at an agricultural field, was injured when the tiger attacked him at the field in Kallipura village here yesterday. The injured is Raghavendra Agase, RFO of Gopalaswamy Hill coming under Bandipur Tiger Reserve.

Details: Farmers, who had sighted a tiger near the field of one Srinivas near Kallipura bordering Bandipur, had informed the Forest Department about it, following which RFO Raghavendra and staff came to the field for an inspection yesterday.

When the RFO was inspecting the pug marks at the field, the tiger, which was hiding in a nearby pit, attacked the RFO all of a sudden thus injuring him. Meanwhile, the Forest staff and villagers, who were present at the field, began to shout resulting in the tiger fleeing into the forest. The RFO was immediately rushed to the General Hospital, where he is being treated.

Bandipur Project Tiger Director Balachandra and ACF M.S. Ravikumar visited the hospital and enquired about the health of RFO Raghavendra. Meanwhile, the Forest Department has placed a cage near the pit in the field of Srinivas to trap the tiger.