Tiger kills tribal, injures another in HD Kote

MYSORE: In a fresh incident, a tiger mauled a 35-year-old tribal to death and grievously injured another in HD Kote taluk's Seegodu Haadi on Friday morning.
The deceased is Cheluva and the injured Chikka, both from Jenu Kuruba tribe. Police said the duo were grazing cattle 500 metres from the reserve forest's outer periphery around 10.45am when they were attacked.Cheluva died on the spot and Chikka suffered injures on his back.
Living in constant fear, angry villagers and tribals staged a dharna with the man's body, urging forest officials to launch a massive hunt for the prowling tiger.
Giving in to their demand, the forest department will set off four elephants on the tiger's trail, according to conservator of forests and Bandipur Tiger Reserve director HC Kantharaju. Three elephants assigned for the mission are Jayaprakash, Kanthi and Teresa, which have reached Bandipur. The fourth elephant, yet to be identified, is likely to reach the range late in the evening.
The forest officials are planning to shift the tiger to Bannerghatta National Park once it's caught from the deep jungles of Bandipur reserve.
Forest officials suspect the tiger is the same which killed a farmer two days ago at a village 10km away. However, quoting eyewitness accounts, they insist that the big cat is not a maneater as it attacked the victim with its paws and pounced on him. As he tried to save himself from the attack, the tiger sneaked into the wild.
The forest department announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the victim's family.