Four women who went to the forest early Friday morning to collect tendu leaves were killed by a tigress in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district, taking the toll of human-wildlife conflicts in the district to 18 since January, forest officials said.
The incident took place in the Gunjewahi forest area of Sindewahi tehsil, nearly 200 km from Nagpur. The area is adjacent to the famous Tadoba tiger project.
According to reports, the tigress pounced on a group of women who went to the forest early morning to collect tendu leaves — a source of seasonal summer income for local tribal and rural families.
The deceased were identified as Kavdubai Dadaji Mohurle (45), Anubai Dadaji Mohurle (46), Sangeeta Santosh Chaudhary (36), and Sunita Kaushik Mohurle (33), all residents of Gunjewahi Village.
Forest officials said it was one of the rarest and deadliest tiger assaults reported in the state in recent times.
Environmentalist and wildlife expert Mohan Kothekar said the tigress attacking four women was very unusual. It is possible, he said, the tigress attacked the women one by one out of fear for its safety or possibly to protect its cubs, if any were nearby.
The incident triggered panic in the Gunjewahi region and renewed outrage against the forest department.
Sindewahi Range forest officer Anjali Sayankar said senior police and forest authorities immediately rushed to the spot after receiving information and launched an investigation into the incident.
“The forest department provided an immediate compensation of ₹25,000 to each of the bereaved families. We have also initiated several measures to minimise man-animal conflict in the region,” Sayankar said.
Earlier, on May 18, 55-year-old Vanita Shankar Uike was killed by a tiger in Nagbhid taluka while collecting tendu leaves.
