MP: Villagers attack Cheetah monitoring team in Shivpuri, 3 team members injured

Shivpuri (Madhya Pradesh) [India], May 27 : A group of villagers attacked the monitoring team of Cheetah in which three members of the team got injured in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri district, an official said.

The incident occurred in Barkheda village of the district on Friday around 4 am after the team reached near the village while tracking the movement of the female cheetah Asha.The villagers also vandalised the vehicle of the monitoring team.

"The monitoring team is continuously engaged in tracing the locations of the cheetahs. In this episode, the location of the female Cheetah Asha which is roaming in the open wild was found near Pohri area of Shivpuri district and our team was also in Barkheda village for tracking the Cheetah," Kuno Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Prakash Kumar Verma said.

He added, "Meanwhile, around 4 am on Friday, unknown villagers attacked our team and thrashed them in which members of our team members sustained injuries. The villagers also vandalised the vehicle."

After the incident, a case has been registered in this regard at Pohri police station in the district and the police are investigating the matter further, he added.

According to the information, the location of Asha roaming in the open wild of Kuno Park was found in the Pohri area on Thursday night. Following which, the monitoring team engaged in tracking Asha, followed her by tracing her location through the GPS system.

Late at night, the team reached Barkheda village while tracing the location, the villagers suspected the team as dacoits and opened fire in the air to drive them away. But when the team did not move from there even after firing, the villagers surrounded the team and attacked them. They beat up the team members and also vandalised the vehicle.

During the incident, among the team members, forest guard Pawan Agarwal, tracker Mukesh Gurjar, driver Hukum Yadav, were injured. The team informed the matter to the officials of Kuno Park and they reached the Pohri police station and lodged a complaint into the matter.