Ranthambore village Tiger attack: Villagers still in a state of shock Read more: Tiger attack: Villagers still in a state of shock

GOPALPURA (SAWAI MADHOPUR): It has been three days since the residents of Gopalpura found the half-eaten body of a 22-year-old youth and they are yet to recover from the shock. After frequent sightings of a tiger near their village, they fear more attacks and have lost faith in the forest officials.

Contrary to the forest officials' claim that the youth, Hemraj Gujjar, was attacked by the beast while he was cutting wood, the villagers say that he was attacked on his way to the temple situated on a nearby hillock. "We went looking for him when he did not return till noon. Around 3 pm on Sunday, we found his half-eaten body near the temple,'' said Harpal Gujjar, who along with four others had gone to search for Hemraj.

On Tuesday, the scared villagers immediately informed the offcials after pug marks were spotted just near the village where Hemraj was cremated on Monday. A team of forest officials reached the spot to inspect the marks and confirmed that they belonged to a male tiger. An official, however, told TOI that the pug marks do not match with the one spotted near the youth's body.

"The officials did not believe us when we told them that tigers are usually spotted just outside our village. Infuriated villagers criticised the forest officials' warning not to venture into the forest. "Do the officials expect us to stop visiting the temple,'' asked Rajulal Meena, sarpanch of the village. Meena alleged that last night or early on Tuesday morning, a tiger had "strayed" into an area which is less than 50 metres away from the village.

"The temple is a little over 1 km away but the cremation ground is right at the corner. If a tiger can come here, it can wander into the village any time,'' said Meena, adding that this is the third such incident in the area over the past three months.

Villagers claim they had sighted a tiger several times during the last fortnight and had informed the forest officials, but the authorities failed to respond.

"On Saturday, we had found the caracass of a buffalo. We are sure that it was attacked by a tiger. It was an alarm for us," said V P Singh, a retired government employee and a villager.

Gopalpura is located near the Ranthambore forest area. The villagers earlier lived in a place called Silavdi, which was located inside the national park. They have been relocated here since 1978. However, Gopalpura is also located in the buffer zone and tiger sightings are common
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