48-yr-old mentally ill man rescued from Tadoba

Chandrapur: The foresters of Moharli (buffer) range rescued a mentally ill person from Tadoba forest after a three-day long operation. RFO, Moharli (buffer), Santosh Thipe, handed Rajesh Meshram (48) to his family on Tuesday morning. Meshram had escaped from his home in village Moharli a few days back.
Meshram was spotted along the road near Junona gate, close to the core zone, on the eve of New Year. As the gypsy driver, guide and tourist tried to apprehend him, he fled into the forest. Sensing threat to his life, tourists reported the matter to Tipe soon after returning from the morning safari.
“I immediately dispatched a team to locate him. After hours of search, our team located him deep inside the forest. However, as the foresters tried to go near Meshram, he fled deep into the forest. These hide and seek continued for two days,” said RFO Thipe, adding that the large number of predators present in the forest posed danger to Meshram’s life.
The department further intensified the efforts and divided the entire staff of the range in four different teams. “Our operations continued even during the night. Finally, Meshram was located deep in the Junona jungle during the wee hours of Tuesday. Instead of approaching him directly, our team summoned reinforcement. Multiple teams surrounded Meshram from all sides and finally got hold of him at around 4am on Tuesday,” Thipe said.