Adilabad: A group of Agharguda women walked into the forest on May 14 to collect Beedi leaves, the first to see the body of an adult tiger in the Penchikalpet series in the Komaram Bheem Bheem Asifabad district. They rushed back and informed the village chief, who called the forest officials and reminded them.
Sources said forest workers arrived in the area on May 15 only the next day.
Meanwhile, the suspicious poacher went to the scene, skilled corpse, pulling out teeth and claws.
According to reliable sources, the tiger was electrocuted while moving in the outskirts of Yellur village in the Penchikalpet range. The poacher noticed the tiger’s electrocuted skin, removed its claws and teeth and disappeared from the scene.
A forest official said they could have caught the tiger’s body if it had been promptly responded.
Sources said there was no proper tiger stalking, later suspected of being eight-year-old Kadamba-8 or K8, referring to the forest beats of her birth, despite her relocation in the Penchikalpet area, which has had numerous poaching incidents in recent months. A local forest official was additionally charged with Kagasnagar region.
Forest officials said Sunday they were trying to find the tiger’s skin. They concluded that local poachers were involved in the death of the tiger. They also probe whether poachers bring their skin to Maharashtra for better prices.
Forest officials brought nearly 12 people from nearby villages to detention centers and asked about the incident. They suspect that eight people were involved in the tiger’s skinning.
“They have some signs that local poachers are involved when they ask local poachers and we want to track the skin,” a senior forest official said.
It is understood that the detained are taking forest officials to different places, but there is no trace of skin.
