Ghost of Madhupur haunts Forest dept

Kolkata: The Forest department is yet to find any trace of the tiger, which was spotted in Madhupur village on last Friday.

Five days have passed since the tiger was caught on a camera installed by the Forest department inside the forest, with the predator still remaining elusive.

The enthusiasm of people over the tiger seems unending, as many of the villagers from Lalgarh and adjoining areas congregated in Madhupur forest, to witness the tiger. The Forest department officials, however, did not allow the villagers to enter deep into forest.

It can be mentioned here that the Forest department officials have set up four cage traps in Madhupur forest, but have failed to capture the tiger.

Confusion has been triggered among the Forest department officials, as some people had set a portion of the forest on fire.

Meanwhile, a fresh pugmark has been detected on Monday morning by the Forest department officials near a waterbody, just a few meters away from the place where a cage had been set up to capture the big cat.

This makes the Forest department officials believe that the tiger might have roamed over the place. Photographs taken by camera traps had shown a tiger roaming around in Lalgarh forest on Friday. The area had no previous record of tiger sightings.

In another twist to the incident, another alleged report of tiger sighting has spread at Khayerpahari area under Sarenga police station in Bankura on Tuesday. The villagers claimed that they had spotted a tiger on a farmland.

After being informed, the Forest department officials had reached the district for investigation. The local residents told Forest department officials about some pugmarks they had found at Peyerol Gari More.

The Forest department officials are conducting an awareness campaign in the village. They are taking elaborate arrangements to capture the tiger, if there is any. The Forest department may set up cage traps inside the village as well.