Two persons of a family died in the back waters of the Manjeera in the district within two days. Locals suspect that they fell prey to crocodiles.
One body was retrieved from the river, while another is yet to be traced. However, there are no marks of crocodile attack on the body.
According to Sanjeevaiah, a resident of the village, Rajannala Shivakumar, 22, went to graze cattle on the river bed on Monday. As he did not return by evening, family members searched for him in vain, till late in the night. They suspected that he might have been dragged by crocodiles, that were seen in the vicinity.
On Tuesday morning, a large number of people, including Ramaswamy, Shivakumar’s brother-in-law, started looking for him in the river. Suddenly, Ramaswamy fell into the river from one of the boats. This happened in the presence of large number of people, police and revenue officials.
Few minutes before that, the villagers saw a crocodile moving in the river and suspect that it may have attacked him. However, there were no injury marks on his body, which was traced at about 3.30 p.m.
“Crocodiles have become a problem for us after the river dried up. Two people in my family fell prey in the last 24 hours. Government should come to our rescue,” cried Lakshmi, a relative.
Villagers said that so far three animals - two goats and one sheep – were devoured by crocodiles in the recent past.
