CBI Should Search For Missing, Beloved Tiger Jai, Says Maharashtra

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Aug 24, 2016: The CBI, the country’s top investigating agency, should be tasked with finding Jai, the beloved tiger who has been missing since April, the Maharashtra government said.

"I would soon write to Prime Minister demanding investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the missing big cat," said Sudhir Mungantiwar, the state’s Forest Minister.

A massive search operation has failed to discover Jai, who weighs 250 kilos. 

Named after Amitabh Bachchan’s character in the blockbuster film Sholay, the tiger shot to nationwide fame three years ago after embarking on an epic hike through villages, rivers and perilously dangerous highways in successful pursuit of a mate.

A firm favourite with tourists and conservationists alike, the seven-year-old Jai was last seen at the Umred Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary, where he usually lives, on April 18. Since then, locals have held prayers asking that he be found safe.

Nana Patole, parliamentarian from Maharashtra who belongs to the BJP, has said that he too will ask the PM to intervene. "Along with Jai, his grandfather Rashtrapati, his father Dendu and sibling Viru have also gone missing," the MP said.

Forestry rangers said they first become worried about Jai’s fate after his electronic collar stopped transmitting his location three months ago, while tourist sightings of the striped cat have dried up.

The state government has offered a reward of 50,000 rupees for information on Jai’s location, a small fortune for the hundreds of local villagers engaged in the hunt.

Jai has been credited with both boosting tourism and helping to repopulate India’s tiger population.

"He’s successfully fathered more than 20 cubs and has boosted the local economy by attracting wildlife enthusiasts," said Rohit Karoo, a conservationist helping co-ordinate the hunt.

India is home to around 2,200 tigers, representing 70 per cent of the world’s endangered tiger population.

Some reports have speculated that Jai may have been wounded in a fight with another tiger, poached by hunters involved in the illegal trade of endangered wildlife or merely fallen sick.