Mumbai, Apr 21: Alleged negligence of a forest guard led to his death at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park here on Tuesday, Apr 20 evening when a lioness pounced on him and killed him.

Officials informed that the lioness killed him during the evening feeding time of the lions. The guard allegedly left door of the enclosure open leading to his death along with the escape of another lion from the enclosure.

The deceased, identified as Harichand Gangwan, had gone to feed the five lions and lionesses in the enclosure at around 6 pm but he forgot to shut the trap door separating the wild animals and the feeding area, an official told a news agency.

Gangwan was attacked by the lioness and killed even as two other guards watched. Despite the efforts by one of the guards to shut the trap door to prevent the other three lions from escaping, a lion escaped.

After killing the guard, the 'killer' lioness reportedly refused to let go of the corpse for nearly an hour. Additional armed forest guards, who were summoned from the national park headquarters to chase the lion away, were forced to shoot a tranquilizer into the lioness so that the body could be freed from her grip.

However, the body could not be retrieved till late on Tuesday, Apr 21 night due to the other lion roaming freely.

OneIndia News