After a tiger mauled to death a woman in Matkuli area of Satpura Tiger Reserve (STR) under Hoshangabad district, aggrieved villagers created ruckus at eco-center of the forest department and burnt the center into fire on Friday morning.

Deceased was going to field early morning when lurking tiger pounced on her and mauled her to death. Later, people found her remains in several pieces. The incident led to anger among the villagers who blocked the traffic at Matkuli tri-way. Entire traffic was disturbed on the road for several hours. They also visited the eco-center of Forest Department and started creating ruckus there. They have broken the doors, windows, gates, furniture and other equipment of the center and later burnt fire.

According to Hoshangabad forest officials, a pair of tiger was released in wild of Satpura Tiger Reserve from Bandhavgarh about a week ago. He is the same male tiger who attacked the women. Villagers said that they are scared of the tiger movement for past few days as the pair is continuously attacking their cattle and children. They said on February 6, tiger has killed two cows in Pisua area.

Police team also reached the spot to control the mob. The police tried to convenience the villagers to solve the matter with talks but villagers were not ready to listen the things.

Forest official said that the two tigers have recently set free into wild and they are looking for territory. The said public announcement has been made in the area to make people alert. They said people have been asked to step out in groups and do not let their children and cattle alone.

Kalyani Singh Mardan, DFO Hoshanagabad, said, “enquiry has been started in this case. After proving the facts, compensation will be released to the deceased family.”