Till December last year, a total of 55 tiger deaths had taken place in Madhya Pradesh, the highest recorded deaths since Project Tiger was launched in 1973. (Credits: Unsplash)
Two tigers were found dead in the forests of Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol district on Sunday and Monday, taking the number of tigers killed in the state to 10 this year. The development has alarmed wildlife officials, coming after the state lost more than 55 tigers last year — the highest number since the launch of Project Tiger.
According to officials, the carcasses of the big cats were spotted in the Banchachar village of the Jaisinghnagar range in the North Forest division of Shahdol district. A tigress carcass was spotted on Sunday evening, and a male tiger was found dead around 100 metres away on Monday morning. After this, a Forest Department team launched an extensive search operation.
“One of them appeared to have been killed in a territorial fight, and the other was electrocuted,” Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) L Krishnamoorthy told The Indian Express.
“We are not ruling out the poaching angle in the case of electrocution till the final investigation is complete. We have identified the persons responsible in the case of electrocution and are going to file a case against them. They have maintained that the electrocution happened due to an electric wire was erected to save their crops,” Krishnamoorthy said.
Till December last year, a total of 55 tiger deaths had taken place in Madhya Pradesh, the highest recorded deaths since Project Tiger was launched in 1973. Last year saw 46 tiger deaths, while the preceding three years recorded 45, 43 and 34 big cat casualties respectively.
Officials estimate that 11 of the 55 tiger deaths last year were due to unnatural causes. Of these, an estimated eight were killed by electrocution, largely from illegal traps laid by villagers to protect crops from wild animals.
A total of eight tiger deaths had already taken place in Madhya Pradesh in January, including a cub. Five tigers were found dead at Bandhavgarh tiger reserve, and three in Pench tiger reserve.
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On the ground in Shahdol and other vulnerable forest divisions, field staff have been instructed to begin continuous line-patrolling along crop–forest edges, especially in irrigated belts where farmers draw power lines into fields. Teams are physically tracing and removing loose and illegally drawn live wires every evening and early morning, when tigers and other wildlife move out of forest blocks. Forest officials have also launched rapid vulnerability mapping of irrigation stretches around Shahdol and adjoining ranges. Beat guards and range officers are preparing field-level maps of pump connections, seasonal irrigation channels and known crop-raiding corridors, and marking them as priority patrol zones.
At the same time, plans are afoot to activate joint teams with the local power distribution staff to “disconnect unauthorised agricultural connections and identify illegally extended lines”.
“In several villages, forest and electricity officials will jointly visit farms where live wires were found after recent tiger deaths, documenting the layout of pumps and cables and issuing notices for unsafe wiring,” said a wildlife official.
Krishnamoorthy explained that the farmers were irrigating their crops during this time, which may explain the spurt in tiger deaths due to electrocution. “In this case, we identified all the live wires which may pose a threat and are undertaking a survey of all the vulnerable stretches where irrigation is underway to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” the officer said.
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On January 20, the Madhya Pradesh High Court issued notices to the Centre and the state government over the rise in tiger deaths in the state.
The court was hearing a petition filed by wildlife activist Ajay Dubey regarding tiger deaths last year.
Anand Mohan J is an award-winning Senior Correspondent for The Indian Express, currently leading the bureau’s coverage of Madhya Pradesh. With a career spanning over eight years, he has established himself as a trusted voice at the intersection of law, internal security, and public policy.
Based in Bhopal, Anand is widely recognized for his authoritative reporting on Maoist insurgency in Central India. In late 2025, he provided exclusive, ground-level coverage of the historic surrender of the final Maoist cadres in Madhya Pradesh, detailing the backchannel negotiations and the "vacuum of command" that led to the state being declared Maoist-free.
Expertise and Reporting Beats
Anand’s investigative work is characterized by a "Journalism of Courage" approach, holding institutions accountable through deep-dive analysis of several key sectors:
National Security & Counter-Insurgency: He is a primary chronicler of the decline of Naxalism in the Central Indian corridor, documenting the tactical shifts of security forces and the rehabilitation of surrendered cadres.
Judiciary & Legal Accountability: Drawing on over four years of experience covering Delhi’s trial courts and the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Anand deconstructs complex legal rulings. He has exposed critical institutional lapses, including custodial safety violations and the misuse of the National Security Act (NSA).
Wildlife Conservation (Project Cheetah): Anand is a leading reporter on Project Cheetah at Kuno National Park. He has provided extensive coverage of the biological and administrative hurdles of rewilding Namibian and South African cheetahs, as well as high-profile cases of wildlife trafficking.
Public Health & Social Safety: His recent investigative work has uncovered systemic negligence in public services, such as contaminated blood transfusions causing HIV infections in thalassemia patients and the human cost of the fertilizer crisis affecting rural farmers.
Professional Background
Tenure: Joined The Indian Express in 2017.
Locations: Transitioned from the high-pressure Delhi City beat (covering courts, police, and labor issues) to his current role as a regional lead in Madhya Pradesh.
Notable Investigations: * Exposed the "digital arrest" scams targeting entrepreneurs.
Investigated the Bandhavgarh elephant deaths and the impact of kodo millet fungus on local wildlife.
Documented the transition of power and welfare schemes (like Ladli Behna) in Madhya Pradesh governance.
Digital & Professional Presence
Author Profile: Anand Mohan J at Indian Express
Twitter handle: @mohanreports ... Read More
