Man-Eater Scare Hits Nilgiris Hamlet As Man’s Body Parts Found

– Fear of man-eating has gripped the borders of Shootingmattam village near here as a big cat is suspected to have killed a Toda tribesman in the tribal hamlet limits here on Tuesday morning.

Residents of Chinnakadimund Toda tribal hamlet found the partially eaten body of a man in the forest near the hamlet on Tuesday morning, according to foresters here.

It was identified as 57-year-old Sabushthal Kuttan, a tribal resident of the hamlet. The tribesmen later suspected that he might have been killed by a tiger and reported this to the foresters.

Foresters came to the scene and collected the body parts, which had traces of blood everywhere. Although it was suspected that he was killed by a wild animal when he entered the forest, foresters could not immediately determine whether he was killed by a tiger.

But tribal members claimed that the pattern of killing and eating meat pointed to a man-eater behind the murder.

Angry tribal people staged a road roko on the busy Ooty-Mysuru NH, paralyzing traffic for over two hours as foresters ignored their suggestions and sought more time to ascertain the real cause.

Senior officials rushed to the spot and calmed the tribesmen and assured them that all necessary efforts would be made to capture him by tracking the movements of tigers in the area.

Now, a forest team in the hamlet is monitoring the situation and trying to set camera traps to track the movements of big cats in the vicinity.