NEPALGUNJ, Feb 7: On Monday, a royal Bengal tiger recently strayed into the settlement of Badhaiyatal Rural Municipality-2 and attacked seventy-two-year old Chandra Bahadur Shahi. As per the locals, he was attacked at around 5:20 pm. Locals started running helter-skelter to safety soon after the word spread about the tiger entering the settlement.

Chandra Bahadur had also heard about the tiger but he thought it was just a rumor. He had just reached his field 15 meters away from his home when the tiger came and attacked him. 

After watching him being trampled by the tiger, a local youth Bijaya Thapa Magar came to his rescue. However, the tiger did not spare him either as they both were injured badly.

Later, other locals and police rescued them. Police took both of them to Nepalgunj Medical College for treatment. However, critically injured Chandra Bahadur died while undergoing treatment. As the tiger was preying on one after other villagers, locals were told not to come out of their homes during night.

"I could not sleep the whole night thinking how brutally two of our villagers were attacked by the tiger," said one of the locals, adding, "We still can't heave a sigh of relief as we know that the tiger is still wandering around in the rural municipality."

To ensure the safety of the villagers, security personnel from Nepal Police and Armed Police Force have been deployed in the area. In charge of Jamuni Police Station Sub  Inspector Lokendra Singh Karki informed Republica that around 1,000 people including security personnel, officials of Bardiya National Park (BNP), Division Forest Office(DFO), representatives of Badhaiyatal among others were deployed on Tuesday, a day after the attack, to search for the tiger. Unfortunately, none of them could find the tiger.

He further said that people started their search from 9 am and continued until 1 pm. However, their efforts turned futile as the tiger was seen nowhere around. 

"The locals are still having sleepless nights fearing for their lives as the tiger could not be caught," said Sub-Inspector Karki. 

According to the villagers, this tiger must have entered the settlement from the Indian forests. However, this is not the first time locals here have been terrorized by wild animals as this happens quite often.

 
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