Vexed villagers of Karnataka’s Bommalapura village locked 13 forest officials in a cage for over 20 minutes on Tuesday, September 9, alleging negligence by the department over inadequate steps to trap a tiger.

The incident was reported 8 km from the forest border in Gundlupet taluk of Chamarajanagar district.

According to the farmers, the tiger had killed a calf three days ago. They said incidents of tigers and leopards preying on their livestock were on a constant rise, and despite repeated requests, the forest department has not taken the issue seriously.

On information, the assistant conservator of forest from Gundlupet and Bandipur rushed to the spot and assured that proper action would be taken.

Farmer organisation Raitha Sangha leader Honnur Prakash warned that if the Forest Department failed to capture the tiger, they would lay a siege to the department office.