34-yr-old man’s partially-eaten body found in Amreli, lion attack suspected
The DCF added that the lion movement was suspected to be near the area and the forest department had put out cages to catch the animal. There was no development in this direction till Thursday evening.
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A joint operation between Gir-East and Shetrunji Divisions of the Forest Department continued till late on Thursday night, with officials and personnel attempting to track the animal and capture it. Two days after a lioness mauled a Gir Somanth-based farmer to death, the forest department officials on Thursday found a partially-eaten body of a man, suspected to have been killed in a wild big cat attack, in Amreli district’s Savarkundla taluka.
The officials found the pug marks of a lion at the incident spot. During the previous Tuesday incident, the lioness had dragged the farmer’s body to the border of Amreli where it sat on it, refusing to let it go. The authorities had to intervene to retrieve the body.
According to officials, the victim found on Thursday was identified as 34-year-old Nazim Qureshi afternoon. His body was found in Gir-East Division of the Junagadh Wildlife Circle, which encompasses the last natural habitat of the Asiatic Lion.
“In the afternoon we got the news that this man was found dead and the lower part of his body was suspected to have been consumed by an animal,” said Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF) Vikas Yadav. “We don’t know the exact cause of the death and have sent the body for a post-mortem examination,” said Yadav.
The DCF added that the lion movement was suspected to be near the area and the forest department had put out cages to catch the animal. There was no development in this direction till Thursday evening.
A joint operation between Gir-East and Shetrunji Divisions of the Forest Department continued till late on Thursday night, with officials and personnel attempting to track the animal and capture it. The police are also looking into the matter. In the last 16 days, three deaths in lion attacks have been reported in Amreli district, forest officials told The Indian Express.
On March 4, a lioness mauled a farmer, Manga Bogha Baraiya (35), to death about 1 km east of Kakidi Moli village of Una taluka in Gir-Somnath district. This was in Jasadhar Forest Range in Gir-East Division. The animal then dragged Baraiya’s body about 100-120 metres and across the district line into Timbi village of Amreli, which lies in Jafrabad forest range of Shetrunji division. The lioness then sat on top of the body, unwilling to let go, till the Forest department officials intervened, scaring away the animal with a bulldozer and tractor, before finally retrieving the body and sending it for post-mortem examination. It took three-and-a-half hours to complete the process and then capture the animal.
In February, the Forest Department had captured two lions that were likely involved in mauling to death a seven-year-old boy named Rahul Baraiya in Paniya village of Amreli on February 19, 2025. This area, too, falls under the Shetrunji Division of Junagadh Wildlife Circle, confirmed its DCF Jayant Patel. These two lions are currently quarantined at Krankach Animal Care Centre in Liliya, Amreli.
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