Maharashtra Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar on Tuesday said the killing of tigress Avni was sanctioned by the Supreme Court and those opposing it should introspect as to whether they were making the court stand as an accused.

“When the Forest Department presented the facts, the apex court too accepted that it was the same tigress which was a man-eater. The court allowed us to capture her, or kill her if the attempt to capture failed,” said Mr. Mungantiwar in an interview with The Hindu. He said around 200 officials worked for over two months to capture Avni and the step to kill her was taken only after the efforts turned futile.

‘Panel made proposal’

Claiming that the permission to kill Avni did not come from him, he said that a committee comprising a wildlife warden had prepared a proposal and the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest approved it. “Attaching different motives such as corporate interests in the area for the killing of the tigress is an attempt to make Supreme Court stand as an accused,” he said.

Taking on the Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi, who blamed him for Avni’s death and demanded his resignation, Mr. Mungantiwar said that her statements were “laughable”. “Is Maneka Gandhi responsible for deaths due to malnutrition in this country? Is the Agriculture Minister responsible for farmers’ death? There is a department, a system,” he said. “One should level allegations only when in possession of at least a single piece of evidence. It seems the strategy is not only to lie, but keep on stressing on the lie.”

Slamming Ms. Gandhi for calling Shafat Ali, the hunter appointed by the State government to kill Avni, an anti-national, Mr. Mungantiwar questioned as to why she had not submitted the information of his anti-national activities to the Union Home Minister.

Commenting on the observations made in the post-mortem report that the tigress was looking away when shot, and that the dart did not show impact of being fired from a syringe projector, the Minister said that a committee had been formed to probe the matter.

The minister said that the whole operation was conducted considering the anxiety among the rural population of the area, and protests in urban areas are a result of them being misled by a handful few. “These protests are result of not understanding the facts. Whether it is with political intention or not will be clear soon,” he said.