One son killed by tiger, another lost to accident

After the incident, she moved to Central Delhi’s Anand Parbat industrial area with Maqsood and her other son Mahmood. This was around 15 years ago.

Mehfooz, Maqsood’s father, lives in Kolkata. He and Ishrat separated long ago.

Ishrat now lives with Pardesi, Maqsood and Mahmood’s foster father.

Mahmood works in Jaipur. “I moved to Jaipur in early 2011. I work as a daily-wage labourer there. However, Maqsood would never leave my mother. He stayed here to look after her,” Mahmood said.

“I was told that Maqsood met with an accident on Tuesday night. But when I saw the videos on news channels, I immediately bought myself a bus ticket for Delhi and left. The last time I had spoken to him was 10 days before Tuesday’s incident. We enquired about each other’s health,” he said.

New video: Zookeeper tried to get to tiger, crowd’s stones got it first

Maqsood’s wife Fatima, who is seven months pregnant, was in Kolkata when the incident happened. She and her parents reached Delhi on Thursday morning.

“My mother knew Maqsood’s mother from the time she used to live in Narkoldanga, Kolkata. They are good friends. In 2012, Maqsood’s mother asked my hand in marriage for her son. After our families visited Ajmer Sharif dargah in May 2012, Maqsood and I got married in Delhi,” Fatima said.

Ishrat said Maqsood loved going to India Gate, Jama Masjid and the zoo. On Monday night, he had given her Rs 1,000 he had earned over the last two weeks as a labourer. She told him to keep Rs 100 with him. “He must have gone to the zoo and bought the tickets with that money,” she said.

See also: Top 5 tiger attack videos

After tragedy, petition wants safety measures at nation’s zoos assessed

A PIL was filed on Thursday for assessment of safety conditions at Delhi zoo and other zoological parks in the country. The plea, filed by Advocate Sunil Kumar, cites newspaper reports noting that there is need for high fencing, more guards and safety equipment such as escape ladders and tranquiliser guns to ensure safety of the visitors. The plea, which is likely to come up for hearing next week, also says that there is no enforcement of rules or any safety awareness sessions for visitors.