A forest team from Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park, deployed to track a cheetah that had strayed into Karauli district in Rajasthan , was allegedly assaulted by villagers after the animal killed a buffalo calf in the area, police said on Friday.
A Kuno forest team was deployed to track the animal when villagers allegedly approached them, abused its members and attacked the team. “We tried to convince him and assured him that compensation would be provided for the death of the buffalo calf. Later, another man arrived and called other villagers. The attackers tried to strangle me and started pelting stones,” he alleged. “The Kuno National Park forest team needs police protection.
Police have registered a case under BNS Sections 121(1) (voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant), 132 (assaulting or using criminal force against any public servant), 351(2) (criminal intimidation) and 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) against five to six unidentified people for allegedly assaulting and threatening foresters, said Jay Prakash Singh, station house officer (SHO) of Mandrayal police station. The incident took place in the Mandrayal area, where a cheetah identified as KGP-3, which had strayed from Kuno National Park, had been moving through the forests, officials said. Alok Prajapati, 34, a forester with Kuno National Park, lodged a police complaint on Tuesday, alleging that five to six unidentified villagers assaulted and threatened members of the forest team.
The cheetah’s movement was traced to an area under Chandelipura gram panchayat, within Mandrayal police station limits, where it had killed a buffalo calf, according to the complaint. We are not safe from the locals,” he said, adding that he had sought security for the team during night patrols.
He added, “An investigation is underway to identify the accused.”
