The Man Eater Of Melghat

This is a real life incident. Mr.R.I.Patel described in the story is my nanaji. He being associated with forests and wildlife gave me some great stories and wildlife facts which made me a wildlife enthusiast and this story in particular was and always will remain close to my heart. 

It had been quiet sometime since Mr.R.I.Patel, the then Conservator of Forest, heard about a certain man-eater of Melghat creating havoc in Bhutida village of Amravati district. Over a span of two years it had killed scores of innocent villagers- including small children. Nobody could say when the brute would come and from where it would come. It had become difficult for the villagers to venture out not only after dark but even in broad daylight for such was the fear of the man-eater. The villagers could not go to their fields or for the basic necessities and were now very desperately waiting for some action to be taken against the tiger. Also the Government had declared it to be a prize trophy and many were after this man-eater.

It was beginning of March in 1959 when he got to encounter this tiger. To be precise the incident happened over 1st  and 2nd March. Mr Patel had  been camping there when he also decided to take a chance. He had given orders to tie a bait of a full grown sheep near a spot where the tiger was last spotted and to keep him updated about the same.

It was half past noon when he had just finished his lunch and was relaxing with newspaper when the guard informed him about a message from Bhutida village that the tiger had killed the bait. He sent the messenger back with the instruction to prepare a machan and ready a few people to go with Mr.Patel. Thereafter at 4.50 pm he left with his acquaintance Shri Bande. On the way they met Dy. R.F.O  who was also returning from the kill site. He informed them that the tiger after killing the bait had dragged it away, after  tearing the ropes with which the bait was secured, to a nearby nullah-gorge and thus building a machan there was useless. However Mr.Patel and Shri Bande continued to the site to gauge the situation.

On reaching the site they decided to get back the kill which was about 500ft down and to tie it at the same place again but with stronger  ropes. Meanwhile they will sit on the machan and wait for the beast to appear. There were 40 people in all with Mr.Patel and Shri Bande. Half of them had gone to get the kill back and others were making a machan. Due to dearth of green trees proper machan could not be made and they had to do with a make-shift one resembling the traditional jhoola. It was built on a teak wood tree about 100ft from the kill.

At 7.40pm all the arrangements were complete. The duo climbed the machan. Two people were instructed to remain atop a nearby Haldu tree and all others were to remain in a nearby field about 100mtrs off. And now the wait began.

Soon after at 7.50pm they heard something trying to drag the kill, and before it was too late they decided to take a chance. Mr.Patel arranged his rifle (0.35-0.8mm) and threw lights in the direction from which the dragging sound was coming. Shri Bande also threw light there with his 5 celled torch. And there he was. Sitting majestically just behind the tree to which the kill was tied. The only visible part was right shoulder. Mr.Patel decided to aim at right chest in such a way that the bullet would get right through the animal’s heart.

The trigger was pulled. The bullet was shot. The animal gave a spring action and charged towards the machan but immediately turned and ran towards the nullah and roared. And so loudly did he roar that people who were to remain in the field all climbed up the trees including the one person who did not know how to climb a tree and that too with his shoes on!

Mr Patel and Shri Bande threw lights all around but the tiger was nowhere to be seen. However latter claimed that he could hear the painful sounds of the tiger and so they decided against getting down from the machan owing to their safety. They arranged to spend the night on the machan.

At about 11.00pm Mr.Patel asked one of the person on Haldu tree to shout at the party in the field if they could come and lower the machan. But there was no reply from the field. They all had gone to get a truck and a few more people with them. When they returned they were now a total of 60 people. The whole party including Mr.Patel and Shri Bande returned from the site to the camp at 1.30am. Next morning at 8.00am the search party gathered again. It was now divided into two to be sent in two different directions to search the tiger.

After vigorous search of two hours someone noticed blood on the grass and bamboo clump. There he was, the man-eater, lying in tall grass about 300ft from the machan. Seeing him each and every villager climbed up the nearest tree. Such was its fear. The Dy. Ranger accompanying the search party fired his gun. But the beast lay motionless. He then fired 21 gun shots to declare that the man-eater was dead. And Mr.R.I.Patel got his first man-eater. The villagers were elated. They declared that they would eat its flesh in revenge for the death of their near and dear ones. On getting this news a very renowned IPS officer who had been camping there for the tiger since past 10 days rushed to the site and congratulated Mr.Patel and made the arrangements for getting the dead tiger to the campsite.

The beast was killed by a single bullet which hit the shoulder and split into two and one part passed right through the heart.

This tiger had shown queer behaviour. Its kill was disturbed by 500ft, brought back to original place. Also its general surrounding was disturbed for making the machan. Now in general case a tiger would never pursue its kill in such situation but this one did because it had become bold. Very bold.

Also after killing the bait it had taken only the blood of the kill and was eager to have his meal as early as possible that he did not care to notice the change in surroundings . Or perhaps it had gained pride having developed over confidence in himself over killing dozens of humans.

Afterwards when the tiger was measured it was found to be 287-290 cms from tip of the nose to tip of the tail whereas normal tiger are 70-120 cms. He was indeed a giant beast. However a strange thing about this tiger was that its tail was 1" shorter than the normal tail size of tigers.

Here I would like to quote Mr.Patel “ I could bag him not because of my skill or courage, but, because the time had approached for the tiger, and his fate dragged him there to be shot by me. And also because:

1. He appeared in spite his kill was moved by 500ft.

2. He started devouring the kill on spot.

3. Inspite of being partially covered by tree in front it got shot at vital point.

4. And finally because I went there against all odds, even after sunset when everything was pitch dark, to test my luck.”

Mr.Patel was awarded a prize money of ₹100 ( considered to be of highly great value in those times) by the Government. Also Shri Khushwant Singh himself wrote and article about this in Illustrated weekly of India, a very prestigious magazine of those times.

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