Villagers capture crocodile to cut open its stomach after it swallowed boy in India (video)
A group of angry villagers in Raghunathpur village, Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district, India alleged that a crocodile swallowed a boy and therefore captured it but were prevented from slitting its stomach by the authorities.
The villagers alleged the crocodile attacked the boy identified as Antar Singh, at the bank of the Chambal river on Monday morning, July 11, and dragged him into the river.
The locals present at the site called his family and relatives immediately and caught the crocodile with the help of sticks, rope and a net. They dragged the crocodile out of the river.
They were however stopped from killing the reptile by senior police and forest officers who believed the crocodile did not kill the boy.
The officers argued that the reptile could not have swallowed the boy, but would have chewed him. They convinced the villagers to search for the boy in the Chambal river.
The villagers were adamant. The devastated family even shouted the name ‘Antar Singh’ in hope of the boy still being alive as the crocodile was hauled ashore in the net.
They kept pressuring forest officials to surgically recover the boy from its stomach as hundreds of people gathered around the spot.
Meanwhile, the SDRF team was also engaged in searching for the missing child in the Chambal River. The rescue team continued the search operation till late evening, but nothing was found.
Searches stopped after dusk. Officials told villagers that if the crocodile had snatched the child, it would not swallow.
Police believe the boy must have gone into the deeper side of the river. Searches would resume on Tuesday.
According to officers, there are hundreds of crocodiles in the river and there have been several instances of attacks on humans. Sheopur is going to become a new home for the first batch of Cheetahs being translocated from South Africa and Namibia.
