Kumram Bheem Asifabad: Rauthu Sujatha, the wife of Suresh, the farmer who was attacked by a tiger on Saturday, claimed that she threw stones at a tiger and raised an alarm when the tiger attacked her husband at Dubbagudem village in Sirpur (T) mandal on Saturday at around 11 am.
“I was picking cotton balls at one end, while Suresh was on another direction in our farm. I raised an alarm when the tiger pounced on Suresh’s neck. I threw stones at it immediately. Meanwhile, Suresh thwarted the tiger by attacking it with his axe, forcing it to leave him and flee into the forests,” Sujatha said recounting the dreadful incident.
The woman further said two other farmer couples who were also harvesting the cotton crop came to their rescue by immediately rushing to the spot and raising an alarm by making noise. She stated that she later informed her relatives about the incident, who in turn initially shifted Suresh to a hospital in Sirpur (T) and then to a private hospital in Kagaznagar.
Locals opined that the woman’s gallantry saved the life of Suresh. They stated that the tiger would have killed the farmer had Sujatha panicked and ran away from the spot. They reasoned that Sujatha’s spontaneity and bravery played a vital role in saving the life of the farmer.
Forest officials said the tiger which mauled Morle Lakshmi (21) from Gannaram village to death at Easgaon village in Kagaznagar mandal attaacked Suresh after trekking around 20 kilometres. They said that pugmarks of the tiger were recorded from the spot of the incident. They noted that tigers could travel around 50 km a day.