Maneka Gandhi slams Maharashtra government over 'brutal murder' of tigress Avni, calls it 'straight case of crime'

Women and Child Development (WCD) Minister Maneka Gandhi on Sunday slammed the Maharashtra government over the "brutal murder" of suspected man-eating tigress Avni and accused it to be a "straight case of crime".

Taking to Twitter, in a series if tweets, Gandhi lashed out at Maharashtra Minister of Finance and Planning, Forests, Sudhir Mungantiwar, and accused him of giving orders for the killing despite several requests from many stakeholders.

Earlier on Friday, the tigress who is suspected to be responsible for the deaths of 14 people in the past two years, was killed in Maharashtra's Yavatmal as part of an operation. Avni is survived by her two cubs who are 10-months-old. She was shot dead by sharp-shooter Asgar Ali, son of famous sharp-shooter Nawab Shafat Ali, at compartment no 149 of Borati forest under the jurisdiction of the Ralegaon police station.

Gandhi tweeted, "I am deeply saddened by the way tigress Avni has been brutally murdered in Yavatmal, Maharashtra. It is nothing but a straight case of crime. Despite several requests from many stakeholders, S Mungantiwar, Minister for Forests, Maharashtra, gave orders for the killing. 

She said she will be taking up the matter "very strongly" with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. "I will take up the matter very strongly with CM Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis. I am definitely going to take up this case of utter lack of empathy for animals as a test case. Legally, criminally as well as politically."

The Minister also came down heavily on Mungantiwar for giving order to private marksman Shafat Ali Khan's son to carry out the hunting operation. "Every time he has used Hyderabad-based shooter Shafat Ali Khan, and this time his son has also appeared in the scene illegally to murder the tigress. His son was not authorised to kill. This is patently illegal. He has been doing this regularly and this is the third tiger being murdered besides several leopards and wild boars."

"Despite the forest officials being committed to tranquilise, capture and qurantine the tigress, the trigger-happy shooter has killed her on his own under orders of Mungantiwar. Shafat Ali Khan has killed 3 tigers, at least 10 leopards, a few elephants and 300 wild boar in Chandrapur, Maharashtra. He is a criminal known for supplying guns to anti-nationals and for a suspected case of murder in Hyderabad," she also tweeted.

She questioned Maharastra government's decision to take services of Khan and his son. "I fail to understand why a state government should even bother about such a man let alone hire his services for illegal and inhuman acts," she said.

Gandhi also expressed concern over the well being of the two cubs left behind after the killing of their mother. "This ghastly murder has put two cubs at the edge of a sad death in the absence of their mother," she said.

Meanwhile, speaking to news agency PTI, Mungantiwar on Sunday said, Avni was shot dead as a last resort when all attempts to tranquilise her failed and she attacked officials. He said nobody in the Forest Department wanted to kill the tigress and, thus, hundreds of personnel from the department were trying to capture her alive since the last 3 months. 

In September this year, the Supreme Court had said Avni could be shot at sight, which prompted a flurry of online petitions seeking pardon for the tigress.