Karnataka tiger deaths: 3 arrested for poisoning cattle carcass at MM Hills sanctuary
The accused—Konappa, Madaraju, and Nagaraj—are residents of Koppa village, situated within the MM Hills sanctuary. They have been charged under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and the Karnataka Forest Act, 1963. A local court has sent the accused into judicial custody for three days.
Khandre said all three were directly involved in poisoning a cattle carcass that was subsequently consumed by a tigress and her four cubs, leading to India's largest single-day tiger mortality since the launch of Project Tiger, a conservative effort that began in 1973.
The breakthrough came after Shivanna, the father of the accused Madaraju, was detained on Friday and confessed to knowledge of the crime. Senior sanctuary officials revealed that preliminary questioning of Shivanna exposed the involvement of three conspirators, including his son.
'Based on his confessions, we have arrested all three people. While three people were part of the crime, Shivanna and others were aware of the conspiracy,' said a forest official. Madaraju initially fled after his father's arrest but was later apprehended through Shivanna's cooperation.
According to a police officer, the tigress and her cubs were killed in retaliation following tiger attacks on village cattle. The accused deliberately sprayed pesticide on a cattle carcass, creating a deadly trap for the big cats, said the officer. The poisoned meat proved fatal to the entire tiger family, a mother and her four cubs, who consumed it near the village.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka forest department has formed a high-level inquiry committee headed by B.P. Ravi, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, and given it 14 days to submit a comprehensive report. The Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has also formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the incident.
On Saturday, Khandre met Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and briefed him about the tiger deaths.
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