A 58-year-old man arrested by the Forest Department for poisoning a cattle carcass that led to the death of at least one tiger near Emerald in Kundah on September 9 has claimed that he was “tortured” into making the confession. He claimed that he does not own any cattle. However, forest officials said they had sufficient evidence to implicate him in the case.
The man, K. Sekar, from Ithalar, was picked up by the forest staff, who allege he had poisoned the carcass of his cow after a tiger attacked and killed it. The officials’ key piece of evidence is the cow in question was registered with the Milk Producers’ Co-operative Society in Emerald, which led them to Sekar.
However, S. Santhosh, the secretary of the society, told The Hindu, Mr. Sekar had last sold milk to the co-operative society in December 2022. “He had applied for a loan for the upkeep of his cattle shed, which we had sanctioned last year, but he has not been selling any milk to the society,” said Mr. Santhosh.
Mr. Sekar, who is out on bail, said he applied for the loan claiming he had purchased a buffalo, but he had not taken possession of the animal.
Mr. Sekar, who claims to have confessed to the allegations as he “feared” for his life, also adds mental and physical torture after being picked up by the Forest Department. He said that he was “tricked” into initially confessing it was his cow that had been killed by the tiger.
“I had lost one cow in 2019 to a tiger attack and in 2021, I was also attacked by a gaur and sustained injuries. I have been petitioning the Forest Department seeking compensation for the last few years. After learning that the compensation for the loss of my cow was sanctioned, but did not get credited into my account, I again approached the forest range office in July, asking them to return my petitions as I wanted to approach the State Human Rights Commission,” said Mr. Sekar.
The man accused of poisoning the tiger alleges forest staff picked him up a few days after the death of the tiger, and asked him if he had lost any cattle to tiger attacks. “I thought they were referring to the cattle I lost in 2019 and said that I had, expecting to get compensation,” he added.
Since then, Sekar alleges he was taken to a Forest Department building and forced to confess.
District Forest Officer (Nilgiris division), S. Gowtham, however, said the registration of the cow in the local milk co-operative society was not the only piece of evidence with the department.
“We also have Sekar identifying the coloration pattern of his cow, as well as the kind of knot which the cow was wearing as well as a conch around its neck. We have video evidence of him identifying the animal and he was among 12 suspects picked up for questioning,” said Mr. Gowtham.
The DFO denied allegations that Sekar was assaulted. “He is an elderly person, and was treated with dignity and respect. Our focus was on solving the crime and to ensure the right person was arrested. We have no need to falsely implicate anyone for such a crime,” he added.
