Police tells Forest dept to verify whether tigress killed woman

Bhubaneswar, Sep 13 (PTI) The police Thursday told the Forest department to verify whether a tigress at Satakosia Wildlife Sanctuary in Odisha's Angul district, killed a woman as alleged by the local villagers.

The tigress "Sundari" was relocated from Bandhavgarh sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh and released in Satakosia Wildlife Sanctuary on August 18. "We have told the Forest and Environment department to keep a tab on the movement of the tigress and confirm whether it killed a woman of Hatibari village in Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary in the early hours of Wednesday," Angul SP Mitrabhanu Mohapatra said.

Alleging that the tigress killed a woman, the angry people of three-gram panchayats under the banner of "Khyatigrasta Praja Sangh" (affected people union) set to fire the Hatibari Forest Beat House and the Tikarpada Forest Range Office. They kept the deceased woman's body on the street and staged a road blockade near their village Thursday demanding compensation to the family of the deceased and shifting the tigress from the Satkosia Tiger Reserve.

The blockade was lifted after the intervention by the police. The Angul SP said that the Forest Department will take a decision whether the tigress will be allowed to remain in Satkosia area or not. "We have assured the people that patrolling will be made and police will ensure their safety," Mohapatra told people while urging them not to take law into their own hands. The Forest department Thursday provided a compensation of Rs 60,000 to the family of the deceased. The deceased woman was identified as Kailashi Garnayak of Hatibari village whose body was found near a pond with multiple injuries.