Panic grips Jharkhand village after tiger enters farmer's house

    Ranchi, Jun 25 (PTI) Panic gripped the residents of a village in Ranchi district of Jharkhand after an adult Royal Bengal Tiger entered a farmer's house on Wednesday, a forest officer said.
    The incident took place in Mardu village in Silli block, close to the inter-state border with West Bengal, under the jurisdiction of Muri police outpost, around 65 km from Jharkhand's capital Ranchi.
    A rescue team from the Palamau Tiger Reserve (PTR) has reached the location, and the animal rescue operation has also started, the officer said.
    "The tiger entered the house of one Puran Chand Mahto around 5 am when he stepped outside after opening the door of the house," Ranchi Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Srikant Verma told PTI.
    As he saw the animal entering a room of the house, he locked the door from outside, Verma added.
    According to local villagers, some family members were inside the house when the tiger entered but they managed to exit safely.
    "The rescue team from PTR has arrived here and operation has been started," he added.
    A team from Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park, also known as Birsa zoo, in Ranchi's Ormanjhi has also arrived at the location, a zoo official said.
    "A veterinarian, compounder and a biologist have been sent to the site to provide their expertise," Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) at Birsa zoo, Ashok Kumar Singh said.
    Prohibitory orders have been imposed within 200 metres of Mahto's house in a bid to ensure a smooth rescue operation, Verma said.
    "We suspect that the tiger has come from adjoining West Bengal. The village is very close to the inter-state border and there is a large forest in Purulia district," he added.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)