“T-2 — The Tiger Who Killed a Man, But Was Not a Man-Eater”

This is a tale from late 2015 and early 2016, when a new tiger made his dramatic entry into the tourism zone of Kanha. From the moment he arrived, he struck fear into everyone’s hearts. Almost every person who encountered him faced a mock charge — a sudden, adrenaline-rushing sprint that stopped just short of contact. People soon started talking about him in hushed tones — T-2, also known as the Karaighati Male. But that’s a story for another time.

Let me take you to the sweltering days of May-June 2016.

One evening, around 5 or 6 PM, a villager noticed that one of his cows hadn’t returned from the forest. Worried, he decided to go look for her. As he was heading toward the forest, he ran into his son coming from the other direction. The son asked, “Father, where are you going?”

The old man replied, “Our cow hasn’t come back… I’m going to look for her.”

A little further into the jungle, he saw the lifeless body of a cheetal (spotted deer) lying in the bushes. Driven by curiosity, he moved closer to inspect it. But in his concern, he didn’t notice — just behind the deer, lying low in the grass, was the tiger.

T-2.

The tiger must’ve felt that the man was trying to steal his kill. In a flash, T-2 sprang from the shadows and launched a powerful, fatal attack on the unsuspecting man.

I’ve lived in Kanha for many years, but such incidents — where a tiger kills a human — are rare, and always chilling.

The tiger didn’t eat the man. Not a single bite.

He simply dragged away his hard-earned cheetal and vanished into the forest.

For days afterward, fear hung heavy in the air. The villagers stayed away from the jungle once the sun began to set. Whispers of the incident passed from home to home, hearts heavy with shock and sorrow.

But life, as it always does, slowly found its rhythm again. The fear faded, the forest continued to breathe, and the people went back to their daily routines.

And thus remains one of the many unforgettable tales of the angry young boy of Kanha — T-2, the tiger who struck terror but never turned into a man-eater.