In a spine-chilling incident, a boy was on Tuesday mauled to death by a white tiger when he fell into its enclosure at the Delhi Zoo. As many versions came out after the incident, a day later the picture is clearer. Here is how the unfortunate event unfolded resulting in the death of Bihar’s 20 year-old Maqsood within 15 minutes of falling into the tiger enclosure.
Maqsood, a factory worker from Anand Parbat, was a dropout and suffered from some mental ailment. His family members confirmed that he had been undergoing treatment for several years. On the fateful day, he left his home after telling his family members he was going for work.
Maqsood scaled a low iron railing and a moat wall with an incline inside the Delhi zoo. A guard had reportedly warned him twice when he crossed the railing and was leaning over the wall. He tumbled over at 1 pm, plunging about 15 feet.
The tragedy, which shook people around the country as the news broke, left a trail of questions on the security measures inside the zoo. The tiger took 10 minutes before it attacked Maqsood. Had the guards been carrying tranquilizers, Maqbool could have been saved, opined experts.
The story behind the boy from Bihar mauled to death by a tiger in the Delhi zoo
In those 10 minutes – before the guards could summon any help – the tiger grabbed him by the neck. Before the attack, cowered in fear and appeared to be pleading with folded hands, Maqsood called out for help as death stared him in the face.
The tiger, Vijay (8), looked at him with curiosity for about five minutes from a sniffing distance, according to eyewitnesses. The 50-odd visitors in front of the enclosure created a din by clapping and shouting, some of them trying to scare away the animal by throwing sticks and stones. Far from being deterred, the tiger first pawed Maqsood a few times and then lunged at him, caught him by the neck and dragged him to the other end of the enclosure.
“I heard someone screaming from inside the enclosure and saw this man cowering with the white tiger looking curiously at it. Within minutes he had dragged him away,” said Bittu, an eyewitness who claimed to have been the first one to raise an alarm.
The guard posted at the enclosure, Praveen, reportedly made calls to officials from his wireless set as soon as Maqsood fell into the moat. But it took the zoo officials about 15 minutes to reach the enclosure, said eyewitnesses.
Meanwhile, a few guards with sticks had tried to scare away the animal first while a few others were slamming the grill gates of the cage (a signal for the animals that food was being served) which drew the tiger inside the cage. As natural as it is for a tiget to attack an intruder, the noise and crowd may have added to Vijay’s aggression, experts said. This, along with the failure to divert the tiger’s attention quickly by the zoo staff, led to Maqsood’s death.
The body was removed around 3pm after the agitated animal was calmed down by the zoo keepers. Cops found the number of a neighbour from the youth’s pocket and informed the family members. His mother Ishrat broke down on hearing the news and hit herself with stones. People tried to control her and took her to the police station.
Preliminary investigations suggest that a bite on the neck led to Maqsood’s death after which the tiger mauled him at various places on the body. The body has been sent for a post-mortem at AIIMS Trauma Centre and will be handed over to the family members.
