Tiger's skull fractured, says post-mortem report

The post-mortem report hints that the skull of the tiger was crushed with a heavy substance. Injury marks also suggested that the tribes who took part in the hunting festival attacked the animal with various weapons. A spear remained attached to its throat when its body was recovered by the forest department.

According to the preliminary investigation by the police and forest department, the big cat was attacked by nearly 100 tribesmen who took part in the hunting fest. Two hunters — Bablu Hansda and Badal Hansda — were also injured in the tiger attack and are undergoing treatment at Midnapore Medical College and Hospital. It may be mentioned that some of the hunters were enraged when the tiger injured

their counterparts a few days ago and they threatened to kill the animal.

Police and forest department have started a probe and are trying to identify the hunters who had attacked the Royal Bengal Tiger. The duo who have been injured are also being interrogated by the police.

The tiger's body was sent for post-mortem to Midnapore after it was recovered by the forest officials.

The eyewitnesses also said that more than 100 tribal hunters from the local villages reportedly attacked the tiger on Friday afternoon with native weapons like lances, bow and arrows. The locals then informed the forest officials, who rushed to the spot with a mini-truck and recovered its carcass.

A local villager said: "I saw the hunters coming to the jungle with weapons like lances and they attacked the tiger. The tiger's throat was injured with a lance. The body was left in the jungle for quite some time."

A senior forest department official said: "We could not catch it despite all our efforts. The tiger died of spear injuries. We have followed all standard protocols for the tiger-autopsy and the animal was later cremated in Arabari range. We are trying to track the people who have killed it with the help of CCTV footages."

Apart from the cops, the forest department is also carrying out a probe into the death of the tiger. They are trying to identify the hunters who had attacked the animal. However, the district police are not ruling out the possibility of the involvement of outsiders in this connection so far.

The preliminary investigation says that the animal was attacked by the hunters who were heavily equipped with various weapons. As the animal was repeatedly hit, its skull got fractured. There was, however, no poison found in its body. The full-grown tiger weighed around 220 kgs and it was around 10-12 year old.