Chamarajanagar: A farmer, Shivamadaiah, who was passing via Huliyamma temple located inside Gopalaswamy Betta range of Bandipur National Park on Saturday evening with a pair of bullocks, came under attack from a tiger which mauled him inside the park premises with his half eaten body traced in a bush on Sunday morning. While, the bullocks managed to escape the tiger attack on them to return home, 55-year-old Shivamadaiah's mutilated body was found with flesh strewn around the place of attack.
The tiger which attacked Shivamadaiah had dragged his body for about 500-metres on the Mangala-Kebbepura route. Scratch marks of the tiger were visible on the body. Shivamadaiah used the forest route to reach his village-Chowdalli on the periphery of the Park.
He had taken the route after visiting his relative's house at Mangala village. When he did not return home,his family members were under the impression that Shivamadaiah might have spent the night in his fields.
When there was no sign of him returning home on Sunday morning, anxious family members alerted forest officials and conducted a search only to come across his towel and dhoti and blood stains indicating a tragedy inside the park.
Angry over the tiger killing Shivamadaiah, angry villagers took to task Assistant Conservator of Forests Ravikumar and jostled him. When guard Mahesh came to his rescue, villagers lost their cool and assaulted guard Mahesh.
ACF Ravikumar told Deccan Chronicle that ex gratia will be paid to the bereaved family members since Shivamadaiah was attacked by a tiger on the road and his body dragged inside the forest area. The recovered body was handed over to family memers after the post-mortem. Final rites were conducted later.
