Tiger snatches man off boat, leaps back into Sunderbans jungle

June 27, 2014

Kolkata, Jun 27: The danger of venturing into the prohibited areas of Sunderbans was revealed again on Thursday morning when a tiger jumped from the bank of a creek and leapt back with a man in its jaws. This is the fourth time that a human was killed by a tiger in the Sunderbans this year.

Sunderbans jungleThe victim, 62-year-old Sushil Majhi, lived in Lahiripur near Datta river, less than kilometre from a creek that runs deep into the forest. Along with his son Jyotish, 40, and adopted daughter Molina, Majhi would often row up the creek to catch crabs.

On Thursday, at the crack of dawn, the three set out on a boat to the forests of Kholakhali, an area where fishing is banned.

Jyotish sat in front of the boat, Sushil in the middle and Molina at the tai. That is how they balanced the vessel while pulling in the net.

"Shortly after we reached the spot, around 7am, we got a whiff of a strange odour. We immediately decided to turn back to a safer zone," Jyotish told TOI. They were paddling towards a less dense area when a tiger that had been stalking them struck like lightning.

"Suddenly, my sister cried out: 'Dada, bagh (tiger)'. I was stunned, and my body froze. All I saw a flash of yellow. It took me a moment to register the gruesome sight before me. My father was completely buried under the beast. I could only see his legs thrashing about. I shook off my numbness and grabbed a stick. Molina, too, took out a long cutter we use to clear foliage in the jungle. Together, we poked and battered the tiger, but it refused to give up," he said.

Despite being attacked, the tiger concentrated on its kill and once it got a good grip, it held Majhi by his neck and jerked the body in a way that it landed on its back, said Jyotish. "It jumped off and landed on the bank in one giant leap. We saw it disappear into the jungle with my father still in its jaws," he added, shaking from the ordeal.

Jyotish and Molina raised the alarm and some fishermen paddled furiously in their direction.

"But they didn't dare chase the tiger into the deep woods. Molina was so traumatized that she lost consciousness. I didn't take any further risk and returned with her as quickly as possible," said Jyotish.

Majhi's body is unlikely to be recovered, as countless other human victims before him.

Sunderbans Tiger Reserve field director Soumitra Dasgupta said there were reports of a tiger attacking a fisherman on Thursday morning.

"Fishing is banned in the forests where the incident took place," he said.

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News Network
February 10,2020

Mumbai, Feb 10: Ankita Pisudde, a resident of Hinganghat town in Wardha, was critical after sustaining 40% burns on February 3 when she was set afire, allegedly by one Vikesh Nagrale (27) while she was on her way to college.

The 25-year-old woman lecturer who was set on fire by a stalker in Maharashtra’s Wardha district last week died at a hospital in Nagpur on Monday morning, a police official said.

Ankita Pisudde, resident of Hinganghat town in Wardha, had been critical after sustaining 35 to 40% “grade III” burns on February 3 when she was set afire allegedly by one Vikesh Nagrale (27) while she was on way to her college, they said.

She was undergoing treatment at the Orange City Hospital & Research Centre here, located around 75 km from Wardha.

“Doctors at the hospital declared her dead at 6.55 a.m. today,” Hinganghat’s police inspector Satyaveer Bandiwar said.

The woman sustained deep burn injuries on scalp, face, right upper limb, left hand, upper back, neck and eyes along with severe inhalational injuries, the hospital said in a medical bulletin on Monday.

She died of “septicemic shock” after suffering from deep dermal burns along with severe inhalational injuries, respiratory distress and related complications, it said.

Around 4 a.m. on Monday, her oxygen levels deteriorated inspite of ventilator support, coupled with decreasing urine output and reduction in blood pressure, the hospital said.

As part of immediate resuscitation measures, medicines were escalated to maintain the blood pressure and all feasible steps were taken to improve the oxygen levels in blood, but the patient remained “extremely critical”, it said.

“Around 6.30 a.m., she had bradycardia and inspite of prolonged cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the patient could not be revived and was declared dead at 6.55 a.m.,” it said.

The probable cause of death was “septicemic shock”, the bulletin added.

During her treatment, she underwent tracheostomy (creating an opening in neck to place a tube into the windpipe to allow air to enter the lungs), burn dressings, debridement and escharotomies, the hospital informed.

Debridement is a medical procedure to remove dead, damaged or infected tissue, while escharotomy is a surgical procedure used to treat full-thickness (third-degree) circumferential burns.

The woman’s parents and uncle were kept informed about her deteriorating health condition and death, the hospital said, adding that the body was later handed over to police for postmortem and other formalities.

After the woman’s condition deteriorated, the hospital informed about her critical status to Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, Wardha Guardian Minister Sunil Kedar, Nagpur Divisional Commissioner Sanjeev Kumar, Police Commissioner Bhushan Kumar Upadhyay, Wardha Collector Vivek Bhimanwar and Wardha Superintendent of Police Basavraj Teli.

Heavy security was deployed in Hinganghat to avoid any law and order problem following her death, the police said.

Several locals, mostly women and college students, took out a march in Wardha city last Thursday, demanding death penalty for the accused.

Home Minister Deshmukh visited the hospital on Tuesday and announced that the accused’s trial would be fast-tracked.

The State government last week flew Navi Mumbai-based National Burns Centre director Sunil Keswani to Nagpur to supervise the woman’s treatment.

It has also appointed well-known lawyer Ujjwal Nikam as special public prosecutor in the case.

According to the victim’s relatives, Nagrale, who was arrested within hours of the incident on February 3, had been harassing her for quite some time.

Nagrale and the woman were friends till two years ago when she severed ties with him due to his “irrational behaviour”, the police earlier said.

A special team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Trupti Jadhav will probe the case, the Wardha Police said last week.

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News Network
June 6,2020

Kota (Rajasthan), Jun 6: A 14-year-old boy allegedly hanged himself to death on early Saturday morning shortly after he stopped playing PUBG throughout the night and went to sleep, said police. 

Railway Colony police station’s in-charge Hansraj Meena said the boy, a class 9 student and son of an Army man, was found hanging from the grill of the ventilator in his bedroom on early Saturday morning. 

Meena said according to the boy’s family members, the boy had downloaded the gaming programme on his mother’s mobile phone only three days back but had been playing the game virtually continuously for the last three days. 

He kept on playing the game till 3 am in a room in which his brother was studying, said Meena, adding the boy went to adjoining to sleep after that. His body was found hanging from the ventilator’s grill in the morning, he said, adding the boy was rushed to MBS Hospital, where he was declared “brought dead”. 

No suicide note was recovered in the case, the SHO said. The boy lived in Gandhi Colony in the city along with his mother and brother, while his father, a Tamil Nadu native and Army man, is currently posted in Arunachal Pradesh. The boy’s body has been kept in hospital’s morgue for the postmortem, the SHO said.

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News Network
January 28,2020

Nagpur, Jan 28: A 19-year-old woman was allegedly raped and an iron rod was inserted in her private parts by a man in the Pardi area here, police said on Monday.

The gruesome incident took place on January 21 and the accused, Yogilal Rahangdale (52), was arrested from Gondia district, they said.

The accused was working as a supervisor in a spinning mill where the woman was employed as a labourer, the police said.

The woman, her brother, the accused and another girl lived in rented accommodations in Pardi.

Inspector Sunil Chavan of the Pardi police station said that the woman's brother and her female friend had gone to their village on January 21 for some work.

As the woman was alone at home, Rahangdale attempted to rape her in the night. When she resisted, he stuffed a piece of cloth in her mouth, he said.

When she fell unconscious, the accused raped her and inserted an iron rod in her private parts, Chavan said, quoting from the complaint filed by the victim.

She narrated the incident to her brother on January 24 and they subsequently lodged a complaint with the police.

An offence was registered against the accused at the Pardi police station.

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