A 24-year-old Adivasi youth, Shivakumar was killed in a suspected tiger attack in Wayanad on Tuesday. Forest department officials found his half-eaten body over 1.6 kilometres away from his home at Kattaunaykkar Adivasi colony in south Wayanad forest division on Wednesday.
Forest Minister K Raju has announced Rs 10 lakh compensation for the family of the deceased.
The youth, who had gone to collect firewood, went missing on Tuesday noon.
Search for the youth began on Wednesday morning led by forest and police officials along with the local residents. The search party found marks on the ground where the body of the youth was dragged away, reported Manorama Online. The search party found the youth's footwear, machete and purse inside the forest a little over 400 meters from his home with bloodstains on the ground, reported Times of India.
Following the marks on the ground of the body being dragged, the search party found the half-eaten remains of Sivakumar. P Renjith Kumar, the Wayanad divisional forest officer told the paper that a tiger was suspected to be behind the attack as the body was dragged almost 750 meters from the location of the attack and most of the body was consumed by the animal.
The Forest department has placed nine camera traps near the place of attack to spot the animal and efforts are on to capture it. On Thursday, officials intend to set up cage traps and a team of 20 Rapid Protection Force (RPF) officials are camping near the locality.
Sivakumar is the son of Madavadad and Janaki and has a sister, Manju.