Irate locals of Chikka Baragi village finally withdrew their protest on Wednesday after the police agreed to fulfil their demands, and released compensation of Rs 5 lakh to Basappa’s family. Basappa was mauled to death by a tiger on Tuesday.
The Forest Department has issued shoot-at-sight orders to kill the tiger, which killed three people at the village in Hediyala forest range of Bandipur National Park in H D Kote taluk. The tiger was last sighted on Wednesday morning, but managed to escape when police officials fired at it. IGP Dr K Ramachandra Rao said, “Our men fired 29 rounds, but it escaped. We could not decide whether it was dead or alive. We are still searching for the tiger.”
Forest officials performed a post mortem and cremated Basappa’s body.
Although Southern Range IGP Ramachandra Rao and SP Abhinav Khare tried to pacify the protestors earlier in the day, they were not willing to listen. It was only after park director Kantharaju promised to appoint one of Basappa’s family members as a temporary employee, did they withdraw the protest.
Kantharaju assured them that a joint search operation by the Police and Forest Departments would be launched on Thursday morning. Additional security will be deployed in the village till the search is completed.
Sources said Deputy Commissioner C Shikha suggested setting up a control room for civilians in case they spotted the tiger.
After the issue was raised in the Legislative Council, Forest Department principal secretary N Shivashailam camped in the park to monitor the situation.