55-year-old man killed in tiger attack in Chandrapur, fourth in district this year

Chief Conservator of Forest (Chandrapur) N R Praveen said that Purushottam Madawi, 55, was killed at 6 pm on Thursday when he had gone into the forest to collect broomstick grass.

Thursday’s death comes close on the heels of the death of Vasudev Kodekar, also 55, in a tiger attack near Yenoli Mal village in Talodhi range on March 1, when he had gone to the forest to collect firewood.

Earlier on February 24, 35-year-old Moreshwar Shrirame was killed near Gulgaon in Bhadravati tahsil when he had gone to collect firewood.

So far, tiger attacks have claimed three lives in the district in the past 10 days.

On Friday, two persons were injured in a sloth bear attack, one of them grievously, near Janamjetti Mana Tekadi near Bhiwapur. Sunil Lengure, 30, sustained grievous injuries while Mahadev Guddettiwar, 35, escaped with minor injuries. Both were attending to nature’s call when they were attacked by the sloth bear.

Earlier, two persons were killed in big cat attacks in Chandrapur on February 4 and February 16, the latter one attributed to a leopard.

So far, the district has witnessed five deaths from big cat attacks in the last 35 days.

Last year, a record 38 people were killed in tiger attacks in Vidarbha, at least 26 of them in Chandrapur district alone.