BJP Leader Arrested For Violence Over Satkosia Tigress

Angul: BJP’s Angul district president Bhagirathi Pradhan was arrested on Sunday for his alleged involvement in violence that erupted at Kanjara in the district after the death of a man, who was suspected to have been killed by Royal Bengal tigress Sundari, on October 21.

He was arrested from Mendhasala on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.

With the arrest of the saffron party leader, the number of arrests in this connection rose to 29.

Earlier, three FIRs were lodged against 200 persons, including Pradhan, in this regard.

Following the death of Trinath Sahu, locals had pelted police with stones and set a number of vehicles on fire. Hours later, Sundari had also attacked a local TV journalist Raghunath Sahu when he had gone to cover the attack.

With the tigress continuously on the prowl in and around human habitations, the state Forest Department had decided to tranqualise her to stop further attacks in the area.

However, with Sundari giving forest staff the slip in the Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary, the state government on October 25 requested its Madhya Pradesh counterparts to send two teams to assist them in capturing her.

“The Madhya Pradesh government has agreed to send two specialist teams from the Kanha National Park and Pench Tiger Reserve who will arrive at the Satkosia in 2-3 days and start their operation to capture Sundari,” Panda had said.

Tranquilizing experts had made all efforts to capture the tigress near Kumuri village on Wednesday night and kept a goat tied to a tree expecting her to arrive. To attract the tigress, the team had also sprayed the urine of a male tiger. After waiting for some time, the tigress came out of the forest and moved towards the bait. But it ran away into the forest as the team, hiding on the tree-top, was about to dart her, he added.

It may be recalled that Sundari had allegedly killed a woman Kailashi Sai of Hatibari village on September 12. Following the death of the woman, the irate villagers had ransacked the Dhandatopa Forest Beat House and Tikarpara Forest Range office and set them on fire.

Prior to that, Sundari had strayed into human settlements in Athmallik forest range and killed a calf at Bipradiha village after crossing an overflowing Chanagodi Nullah on September 2. Twelve days later, she was back in the village and killed five cattle.

Following these incidents, a team of experts from Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau had arrived at Satkosia and monitored the movement and behaviour of the tigress for three days.

As Sundari did not show any sign of leaving the human settlements, the forest officials had decided to either tranquilize her or trap her in a cage. However, much to their relief, she moved inside the core area on the night of October 3.

However, a week after staying inside the core area, she again strayed into the human settlements and killed a bullock in broad daylight on the outskirts of Hatibari village on October 11.

Sundari was brought from the Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh on June 28 and released into the core area of Satkosia Tiger Reserve on August 18.