Forbidden kingdom: A tiger in Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh (Source: Getty Images)

Forest department officials have attributed the deaths of five people in the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve’s core and buffer areas in Chandrapur district to a single big cat.

The latest incident occurred on Sunday morning. The victim, Rajesh Dadmal, was killed near Kolara on the core-buffer border. It came close on the heels of the killing of Rajyapal Nagose from Bamangaon village on June 4.

“Four incidents earlier have been caused by the same tiger as camera trap images have shown. Since Sunday’s incident also happened in the same area, it is most likely by the same tiger. But we will be able to say that for sure only after getting camera images tomorrow,” said Guruprasad, Deputy Conservator of Forest, TATR.

Asked why no orders have still been issued to capture the tiger despite at least four confirmed killings when the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) guidelines require only two fatal attacks, Guruprasad said, “The first two incidents were in core area, which is inviolate space and hence the tiger can’t be seen as responsible. But we had sought advice from the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest after the next two incidents. The fifth one happened before we could take a call after the fourth incident.”

The incidents in TATR core and buffer areas began on February 15, when a man from Kolara village was killed. It was followed by an incident on April 8 and later by another in May.

With this, the total number of people killed in big cat attacks in Chandrapur this year has so far reached 14, one of which is by a leopard while the rest are by tigers. Besides, two deaths each have been reported from Gadchiroli, Gondia and Bhandara districts and one from Nagpur district. This make the Vidarbha tally 21.

Interestingly, 11 of these have occurred in the lockdown period.