Tiger spends night with Jharkhand family in a room - 'Lord Krishna saved us'

Representative image

In a chilling incident, a tiger entered a house on Wednesday and spent hours in the same room as a sleeping family, without harming anyone in Silli block of Mardu village in Jharkhand’s Ranchi district. The wild cat was later safely rescued after an operation that lasted nearly 14 hours.

Around 4.30 am on Wednesday, farmer Puran Chand Mahto (55) got up to take his goats out of his house. As he stepped out of his house to tie his goats, he came face-to-face with the tiger.

“As soon as I got up to take the goats out of the house, a full-grown tiger jumped into my house. Out of fear, I also got inside the house and locked it from inside. My children started shouting out of fear. Then I realised that we were in danger as both the tiger and my family was inside the house,” The New Indian Express quoted Mahto as saying.

He quickly helped the children escape and locked the main iron door from outside before calling for help. "Bhagwan Krishna ne aaj bacha liya (Lord Krishna has saved us today)," remarked Puran.

#WATCH | Jharkhand | A joint team of Palamau Tiger Reserve and the forest department, Ranchi, rescued a tiger from a house in Silli block, Ranchi. (25/06)

(Source: IPRD) pic.twitter.com/xU7RvZNmRB

— ANI (@ANI) June 25, 2025

As news spread, senior forest officials arrived at the spot to oversee the operation. The house was covered with nets, and prohibitory orders were imposed to check any gathering at the site. A local police officer told TOI that they had roped in additional personnel to prevent any unwanted incident. Nearly 1,000 villagers had assembled nearby, and additional police were deployed to control the crowd.

Around 4 pm, a rescue team from Palamu Tiger Reserve, supported by Ranchi forest division, reached the village. A cage was placed at the door and, surprisingly, the tiger walked in on its own even before bait was used. It was tranquillised with two darts to prevent injury, and taken to Ranchi’s Bhagwan Birsa Zoo for medical examination.

Paritosh Upadhyay, Jharkhand’s Chief Wildlife Warden, said the tiger would be released into a nearby reserve if found fit, and would be fitted with a radio collar to track its movements. Officials suspect the tiger had been moving between Palamu Tiger Reserve and Purulia’s Jhalda forest range for several months, and the village, located just 500 metres from West Bengal, lies along this corridor.