RANCHI/SILLI/PURULIA/KOLKATA: “Bhagwan Krishna ne aaj bacha diya hai (Lord Krishna has rescued us today),” remarked farmer Puran Chand Mahto (55) from Mardu village in Silli block of Ranchi district, still finding it hard to comprehend his miraculous survival. He recounted how he and his family—his three daughters and an underage relative—slept soundly as a tiger stealthily hid itself in their room’s corner without disturbing them.
At around 4:30 am on Wednesday, Puran was preparing for the day. When he exited his three-room home into the yard, he instructed his daughter Savita, who is in Class IX, to take the livestock out for grazing. Soon after, her screams filled the air, sending a cold shiver through him.
Savita discovered a seven-foot-tall tiger within their room – which had just one entrance – and yelled out, "Baba, baag... (Dad, tiger)!"
"All chaos erupted since my two other daughters and the relative were still asleep inside," Puran shared with TOI via telephone. His wife and son had gone to a neighboring village in West Bengal for a wedding ceremony.
"Savita quickly entered for a moment to awaken the rest. I followed and requested the girls to move towards the opposite end of the room," Puran mentioned.
"Shortly after, the tiger leaped into another room via a window without bars and remained there. At this point, I instructed the girls to exit the house immediately. Once we fled safely, we secured the metal door from the exterior and sought assistance," Puran mentioned additionally.
The large feline might have slipped inside the residence during dawn when Puran went to the courtyard, inadvertently leaving the entrance unattended. Previously, cases of leopards along with various wildlife creatures entering homes were documented in Jharkhand; however, this incident marked the initial occurrence where a tiger wandered into a person’s dwelling.
The news caused considerable alarm among the district authorities, prompting the forest department to swiftly dispatch a team to manage the circumstances. High-ranking forest officers reached the location to supervise the efforts. The building was enveloped in nets, and restrictive measures were enforced to deter any gatherings at the scene. A local law enforcement official informed TOI that extra staff members had been enlisted to avoid potential mishaps. “Around 1,000 villagers gathered… ensuring everyone’s safety was quite challenging,” stated the officer.
At around 4 PM, a specialized team from the Palamu Tiger Reserve arrived at the village and, with assistance from staff of the Ranchi forest division, successfully captured the tiger—a five-year-old male. They positioned a cage attached to a rescue vehicle in front of the entrance and enticed the large feline outside. "The tiger walked into the cage even before they set up the lure; thus, it became trapped. To ensure it didn’t sustain injuries during this process, we needed to sedate it multiple times. By approximately 6:45 PM, we were en route to the Bhagwan Birsa Zoo in Ranchi, where the animal would be subjected to various examinations," stated an official.
Paritosh Upadhyay, Jharkhand’s chief wildlife warden, stated, “Should the tiger be healthy, we shall release it into an adjacent tiger reserve along with a radio collar, following discussions with the National Tiger Conservation Authority.”
The village sits along the shores of the Subarnarekha River, approximately 60 kilometers away from Ranchi city and just around 500 meters from Purulia in West Bengal. It is thought that the same tiger has traversed this route—from the Palamu Tiger Reserve in Jharkand to the forests of Jhalda in Purulia—multiple times since January of this year.