An engineering student jumped into a tiger enclosure at the Gwalior zoo, took off his shirt and danced in front of a pair of big cats but managed to come out unscathed in a bizarre incident in the Madhya Pradesh city.
The incident took place on Monday in front of a large number of stunned visitors at the zoo in Gwalior, about 430 km north of Bhopal.
The youth, identified as Yashonandan Kaushik, 23, is a third-year student of electronics and communications at a private college in Indore.
His father Ashok Kaushik told police that his son "hadn't slept for four nights and probably this took a toll on him".
Police said the youth scaled the 20-feet wall to jump into the enclosure which had two tigers. He then proceeded to take off his shirt and dance in front of the tigers, Lav and Kush.
Kaushik even went to a small pond meant for tigers in the enclosure and washed his face and hands.
Luckily for Kaushik, the tigers did not attack him.
{{/usCountry}}Luckily for Kaushik, the tigers did not attack him.
{{/usCountry}}When the visitors raised a hue and cry, zoo security personnel rushed to the enclosure. The nearby Inderganj police were also informed.
Kaushik continued his antics for almost half-an-hour before zoo staff entered the enclosure and escorted him out safely.
His family-members, who were informed of the incident, said they had no idea why he took such a step.
The police are considering registering a case of suicide attempt.
In October last year, a 42-year-old man was seriously injured by a lioness when he had jumped into her enclosure at the Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar.
In 2007, a 50-year-old man died after his left arm was ripped off by two tigers at the Guwahati zoo in Assam. He was trying to photograph the tigers with his mobile phone by putting his hands through the iron bars of the enclosure.
As recently as February this year, a white tiger attacked and injured a man when he jumped into its zoo enclosure at Chengdu in Sichuan province.
(With inputs from Mahesh Shivhare)