Maha govt restructured panel set up to probe tigress Avni killing

The Maharashtra government Friday restructured the panel set up to probe the killing of tigress Avni. Renownedtiger expert and director of the Center for Wild Life Studies, Bangalore, Dr Ulhas Karant has been appointed co-chairman of the probe committee, a forest department official said.

Besides, a researcher at the Indian Institute of Wildlife, Dehradun, Parag Nigam has been appointed as a member. With these new inductions, the committee comprises six members, the official said.

Other members are Principal Chief Conservator of Forest S H Patil, Wildlife Institute of India member Habib Bilal, Wildlife Conservation Trust chairman Anish Andheriya and Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest Nitin Kakodkar.

The committee was formed after the state government came under fire over the death of the tigress who was believed to have turned man-eater and killed 13 people in the last two years in Yavatmal district.

She was shot dead in a government operation two weeks ago. However, the killing raised the hackles of animal lovers and wildlife organisations. Union minister Maneka Gandhi had blasted the state government over the killing, calling it a "murder".