Rajasthan police have booked 12 persons, including Dharmendra Khandal who clicked the pictures of a tiger attacking a forest ranger, in Ranthambore National Park on Friday.
The Sawai Madhopur district police lodged the first information reports on Sunday night, accusing the 12 persons of
disrupting government business, abusing forest employees and violation of the Wildlife Protection Act.
HT carried the pictures of an enraged big cat on the outskirts of the park, attacking forest ranger Daulat Singh Sakhtawat, who is feared to have lost his right eye, besides receiving serious brain injuries.
But Khandal, a biologist with Tiger Watch Foundation, said, “The charges against me are baseless.” Claiming to be first person to point out lapses of the park management, he said, “I am a victim of whistle blowing.”
Ranthambore district forest officer, R.S. Shekhawat, however, said, “The villagers and the other persons instigated the tiger by shouting at it and clicking photos. The tiger could not get away as it was surrounded from all sides.”
“Daulat Singh was pressured by these persons to tranquilise the tiger even though he was not willing to do that,” he added.
Shekhawat said the ranger hit the tiger twice with darts. But as he went close to ensure it was tranquilised, someone enraged the animal by throwing a stone at it. State forest minister Ram Lal Jat, meanwhile, said the state might give the ranger and forest guards special awards for bravery.