BENGALURU: The family of the guard killed by a white tiger in Bannerghatta Biological Park staged a dharna in front of the national park on Sunday.The relatives of the victim said that they were protesting against the ‘negligence’ of the authorities in ensuring safety of the staff. They added that carelessness had led to the death of the guard Anjaneya (35) who was mauled him to death by a tiger on Saturday. Tension prevailed for a while as they blocked the road and did not allow visitors to enter the park.
Forest officers who reached the spot announced a `10 lakh compensation for the family and promised a job to Anjaneya’s eldest son Devaraj. Senior forest officials spoke to the protesting family.
Anjaneya had married Akkamadamma a few years ago and the couple have two sons - Devaraj and Dharamraj. The slain guard’s brother Dharvaiah, who has been working as a caretaker of animals in the safari told Express: “Forest officers should take safety measures to avoid such incidents in the future. They have not learnt lessons from previous incidents. Anjaneya lost his life when the senior guard Narayananappa was absent. My brother did not know about safety measures needed to be taken inside safari as he had started work only a week ago. Fellow guard Huchche Gowda had taken Anjaneya to help him feed meat to tigers.
Huyenda, a relative of Anjaneya said: “The family was furious about the forest officials shifting Anjaneya’s body to Victoria Hospital without informing them. We were not even allowed to see his face when we came here. We are still puzzled as to why they did it,” he said.Bannerghatta police said that they hadn’t determined if there was negligence on part of forest officials as they were yet to question the staff. The body was handed over to the family after the post-mortem. The final rites were conducted at Kunumanahalli near Ramanagar. We are waiting for the statement of the family for further investigation, a senior police officer said.