A tiger mauled a farmer to death in the Katangi Range near Kudwa Colony in Balaghat district, Madhya Pradesh, on Saturday morning.

According to information provided by the police and forest department officials, the incident occurred at around 6 am.

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A group of farmers had reached their agricultural fields as usual at around 5 am to begin work. After about an hour, some of them heard the roars of a tiger and the cries of a fellow farmer who had been working at the far end of the field.

They saw that the tiger had attacked the farmer, Prakash Paney, 45. The big cat dragged him some distance, and despite the other farmers throwing stones to scare it away, the tiger did not release its grip.

Eventually, after several minutes of shouting and hurling stones, the tiger fled. When the farmers reached the spot, they found that Paney had been killed and part of his lower body had been devoured.

Angry villagers and farmers gathered at the local Forest Department office and staged a protest. They alleged that they had been warning forest officials for a long time about the tiger’s presence in the area, but no action had been taken.

According to Katangi Police Station In-Charge Kaushal Surya, the deceased farmer was a resident of Kurwa village, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Tirodi Police Station. Paney is survived by his wife, two children, and his elderly mother.