'Black magic' behind tigress' lost paws?

BHOPAL: Two days after a tigress was mowed down by a train in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh, forest officials are yet to recover one of its severed paws.
Officials are worried in light of the recent cases wherein it was found that tigers were killed for their paws by villagers for 'black magic'.
"We don't have any doubt in this case. Tigress was hit by the train, but one paw is missing from the spot and efforts are being made to locate it," said a forest officer in Hoshangabad district.
Possibility that villagers might have taken it before they reached the spot cannot be ruled out, he said. The adult tigress was hit on the tracks at Budhni Midghat in Hosghangabad late on Wednesday night. "The severed paw should have been around the spot where tigress was hit," said the officer.
Earlier, four tantriks were arrested last month for allegedly inciting tribals to kill tigers and leopards with a promise to "rain money in new notes".
They had promised villagers to double money in their bank accounts through spells performed with the felines' paws.
As a result, unsuspecting illiterate villagers allegedly killed three tigers and as many leopards in the Kanha-Pench jungle corridor over the past four-five months and severed their paws.
The four witch doctors were among 33 people arrested by the special task force (STF) in connection with the poaching racket.
Their interrogation revealed that the tribals killed the big cats by electrocuting them and then burnt the carcasses after removing the paws. The accused confessed to have killed two tigers using electric traps connected to an 11KV line of the Lamta project, located between Kanha and Pench tiger reserves.
The STF are withholding the names of those arrested because they expect to make more arrests shortly. "These sorcerers are involved in killing of many more animals. We have confiscated leopard paws from them," said a forest department officer.