Amravati, Maharashtra | September 9, 2026
A tigress blamed for killing four people across Maharashtra’s Amravati and Wardha districts since August 17 has died following a major Forest Department operation to capture her, bringing an end to weeks of fear in villages across the region.
The tigress was tranquillised and captured at Shirajgaon Kasba in Chandur Bazar taluka on Monday after two people were killed within barely 24 hours. She died while being taken for further treatment and care.
Four deaths in just three weeks
According to the Amravati District Information Office, the first death attributed to the tigress occurred on August 17, when Rambhau Bhoyar, 74, of Narsingpur in Wardha district was killed.
Ten days later, on August 27, Charandas Ikhe, 55, of Bhambora in Morshi was killed. The tigress reportedly grabbed him in an agricultural field and dragged him towards a nullah.
The situation became critical in early September when two more deaths occurred within 24 hours. 18-year-old Urmila attacked after climbing tree. On September 6, Urmila Bajirao Ivne, 18, was cutting grass in a field at Sonori village when the tigress reportedly attacked.
In a desperate attempt to escape, Urmila climbed an orange tree. But the tigress followed, attacked her and pulled her down. Villagers later found her body after the animal reportedly dragged it towards nearby vegetation.
The death triggered anger among residents, with protests erupting over the Forest Department’s inability to capture the animal despite the earlier attacks.
Farmer becomes fourth victim next morning. Barely a day later, the tigress struck again. On September 7, Dinesh Aware, 45, a farmer from Shirajgaon Kasba, was killed. The tigress had also reportedly attacked livestock in the area.
Aware’s death became the fourth human fatality attributed to the animal since August 17 and dramatically increased pressure on authorities to end the attacks.
Farmers and agricultural labourers in affected villages had become increasingly reluctant to enter their fields.
Thermal drones and camera traps deployed.
The Forest Department mounted an intensive operation involving personnel from the Amravati and Wardha forest divisions, Melghat Tiger Project, Akola Forest Department and a team from Pune, along with district authorities, police and others.
Teams maintained round-the-clock patrols while camera traps and thermal drones were deployed to locate the tigress. Awareness campaigns were simultaneously conducted in vulnerable villages.
The animal had apparently travelled extensively through the landscape. Officials said she had moved from Ashti taluka in Wardha and, over roughly 20 days, attacked people and livestock in Varud, Morshi and Chandur Bazar talukas.
The search ended when the tigress was located in the Shirajgaon Kasba area.
A special Forest Department team successfully darted and tranquillised her. Officials said the operation rendered the animal unconscious and removed the immediate threat to surrounding communities.
Plans were made to transfer the tigress for wildlife treatment and long-term care.
But the successful capture was followed by an unexpected development.
The tigress failed to recover and died after being tranquillised.
Initial reports said she died while being shifted towards a wildlife rescue facility, despite attempts by the accompanying team to revive her.
A subsequent post-mortem examination has now indicated cardio-respiratory failure—cardiac and respiratory arrest—as the prima facie cause of death.
The death has nevertheless generated questions about what happened between tranquillisation and the animal’s death. Some wildlife activists have sought greater clarity over the capture and subsequent treatment of the tigress.
Relief mixed with questions
For residents of the affected villages, the capture brought immediate relief after weeks in which people feared entering farms and fields.
For wildlife managers, however, the episode illustrates an increasingly difficult conservation challenge in parts of Vidarbha.
Tigers moving through landscapes containing forests, farms, villages and livestock can come into extremely close contact with people. Once repeated fatal attacks occur, authorities face enormous pressure to identify and remove the animal while simultaneously ensuring that capture operations follow appropriate wildlife and veterinary protocols.
The Amravati tigress’s story has ended tragically on both sides: four people lost their lives, and the tigress herself died shortly after being captured alive.
The immediate threat may have ended, but the circumstances surrounding her death—and the reasons a tiger came into such repeated conflict with people across this landscape—deserve careful investigation.
The four victims identified by authorities were: Rambhau Bhoyar, 74 (August 17); Charandas Ikhe, 55 (August 27); Urmila Ivne, 18 (September 6); and Dinesh Aware, 45 (September 7).
Source credit: India Today, September 8, 2026, with the latest post-mortem update from The Times of India. �
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