Mahisagar: Locals of Janod village in Mahisagar district are in panic mode as claims of Tiger sightings are being made there.

Babar Machi, a resident of Janod who is a teacher by profession claims that last Friday while returning from the fields he saw a tiger.

Babar told the media, “I am a teacher and I know the difference between a leopard and a tiger. It was striped, not spotted. I even flashed a torch at it to be able to see it clearly. I can say with confidence that it was a tiger.”

However, the forest department brushed aside the claim of villagers, as similar claims raised in 2021 by locals of another village turned out to be a squib.

N V Chaudhary, the deputy conservator of forests said, “We have deployed our teams in the area and are searching for the animal. We have yet not found pug marks, excreta or prey to ascertain the presence of a wild cat.”

Deputy sarpanch of Janod village told the media that villagers are claiming that they saw pug marks. The Forest dept told the panchayat that it may have been a leopard but the villagers are not taking this lightly. Hence, if they have to go out they do so in groups.

Four years ago in 2019, similar claims of tiger sightings were made in the district, But, the Forest dept dismissed the claims at that time also, only to find a dead tiger later, as it had starved to death after being sighted. DeshGujarat