The Forest Department arrested a farmer on Monday in connection with the deaths of two male tigers in The Nilgiris last Saturday. The detained farmer has been identified as Sekar, the owner of a cow that was also discovered dead near the tigers. When the animal carcasses were first discovered in the area, forest officials launched an investigation and submitted tissue samples to Coimbatore for forensic analysis.
Two tiger carcasses were found near Avalanche Dam on Saturday. The officials said, a detailed investigation was launched in the area. Later, Sekar, the cow's owner, was detained and interrogated by the authorities on Monday.
The investigation revealed that Sekar had discovered the cow's remains after it had been missing for some time. He laced the cow's carcass with insecticide and the animals that consumed it died, officials told PTI.
Sekar apparently confessed to having gone in search of his missing cow around ten days ago and found that a predator had killed it. Therefore, he poisoned the carcass with chemicals as retaliation, which is thought to have killed at least one of the two tigers, said a report on The Hindu.
Sekar was later remanded to custody.
Earlier, the post-mortem report of the carcasses of the tigers found that there was meat, porcupine quills, and hair in the stomach. There were also injuries to the vertebral column of one of the tiger and it was due to a fight with another animal, as reported by IANS.
In the Udhagai South Range, a case has also been filed under the Wildlife Protection Act. Till now, six tigers have passed away in The Nilgiris district in the past month alone, according to multiple reports.