Man arrested in Bandipur tiger electrocution case

Forest officials from the Bandipur Tiger Reserve on Friday arrested a man on whose farm a five-year-old tiger had allegedly died of electrocution. They said the man, Rechappa S, had dumped the tiger carcass in a pond with the help of five others, who are yet to be arrested.

“A decomposed carcass of a tiger was found floating in the Malliahkattekere lake in the Kundukere range of Bandipur Forest in the Gundlupet taluk on February 7. A detailed investigation was conducted on February 23, and Rechappa S was interrogated. It was found that the accused had installed an electrical fence on his farm, with which the tiger came in contact and died. In order to hide the incident, the carcass of the tiger was dumped in the lake. Rechappa took the help of five others. He was arrested and produced before a court on Friday. The five others are yet to be arrested,” a statement from the tiger reserve said.

The pond was five feet deep. When officials lifted the carcass from the pond for conducting a postmortem, they found that its neck and legs had been tied to a boulder with a wire. The tiger’s visceral samples were sent to forensic labs in Mysuru and Bengaluru.

It was earlier suspected that the tiger was poisoned and dumped in the pond.