Tiger kills temple guard at Ranthambhore Fort; third fatal mauling in two months

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In a grim recurrence of human-wildlife conflict, a 70-year-old temple guard was killed in a tiger attack at the historic Ranthambhore Fort early on Monday, marking the third fatal incident linked to big cats in the region in under two months.

According to HT, the deceased, Radheshyam Mali, a resident of Sherpur village, had served for over three decades as a chowkidar at a Jain temple near the Trinetra Ganesh Mandir, one of the most visited shrines inside the fort premises. According to officials, he had stepped out around 4.30 am to relieve himself when a tiger attacked him.

His mutilated body was later found 30 to 40 metres from the site, bearing deep neck wounds and signs of partial consumption.

Anoop KR, Field Director of the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve (RTR), was reported by HT as saying that two other guards sleeping nearby heard his screams but could not help. Camera traps have now been installed in the area to identify the tiger, while hair samples collected from the site have been sent to the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bengaluru for DNA analysis. NCBS maintains a database of tigers from the reserve, including that of tigress Arrowhead (T-84) and her cubs.

The latest attack has intensified public anger, with locals staging protests near the temple and blocking the Sawai Madhopur–Kundera road. Demonstrators demanded Rs 50 lakh in compensation, a government job for a family member and 10 bighas of land. Police were deployed to pacify the crowd and negotiations between officials and the protesters remained unresolved till late evening, according to a report in TOI.

The incident prompted the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to act swiftly on a long-pending recommendation to relocate Arrowhead’s three sub-adult cubs, suspected to be behind multiple attacks, including this one. A five-member panel formed by the Rajasthan Forest Department on May 13 had linked these attacks to a behavioural pattern, potentially indicating the animals had become habituated to targeting humans.

The panel has recommended shifting Arrowhead’s daughter Kankati is to be shifted to Mukundra Hills, her other female sibling to the Karauli-Dholpur Reserve enclosure and the male cub to Ramgarh Vishdhari.

Arrowhead’s cubs have been in the spotlight since April 16, when a seven-year-old boy was killed in a village near the reserve. Just weeks later, on May 11, a 40-year-old forest ranger was mauled near the same temple area, suspected to be the work of the same cub, believed to be Kankati.

The rising frequency of tiger encounters around the Ranthambhore Fort — a site that sees hundreds of devotees daily — has raised serious concerns. A forest official was quoted by HT as saying that tigress Ridhi and her two cubs have now expanded their territory to include the fort area. “She finds easy prey like sambar and chital there,” the official said.

Officials have been urging the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to repair the broken boundary walls of the fort, which is allowing free movement of wild animals into temple areas. Multiple requests, including one in April after the last incident, have gone unanswered.

The zone around Jogi Mahal, encompassing the fort, has long served as a nursery for Ranthambhore’s iconic tigresses including Machli, Sundri and Krishna. Currently, three tigresses - Arrowhead, Ridhi and Sultana - along with their cubs and two adult males, occupy this roughly 85 sq km area. This concentratio n has heightened territorial stress and increased the likelihood of human-tiger conflict.

A senior Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer told HT that female tigers need 12–15 sq km and males require even more. He added that in the temple area alone, about 14 tigers are moving around. Without habitat expansion and regulation, conflict is inevitable.

The officer also called for stricter regulations within the reserve. “Cooking inside the reserve must be banned and only forest vehicles should be allowed for movement,” he said, underlining the urgency of relocating some tigers and restoring habitat balance.