The gharial caught in fishermen’s net in Gitaldaha on Sunday. Picture by Main Uddin Chisti

Cooch Behar, April 20: Fishermen, who cast net in the Dharala river in Gitaldaha this morning, accidentally caught a 10-feet-long gharial, a species of fresh water crocodile.

The crocodile was brought ashore and later released into the Rasikbeel gharial rescue centre, 85km away.

Police and the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel had reached the spot and they had called in the forest department’s Cooch Behar social forestry division.

Thousands of people gathered on the banks of the river to catch a glimpse of the crocodile. Gharial, which can grow up to 18 feet in length, is a fish-eating crocodile and not known to attack humans.

The crocodile acquired the name, gharial, because the male of the species, Gavialis gangeticus, develops a huge “ghara (pot)” like protrusion at the tip of its snout.

The divisional forest officer (social forestry), Apurba Sen, said the reptile was an adult female and was in perfect health.

Anarul Haq, who was among the 19-member fishermen group, said they had set out in a boat with a large net about 5.30am today.

“We cast the net and were slowly paddling down the river when we felt a tug at the net underwater. At first, we were elated thinking that we had a big catch. But after dragging the net to the riverbank, we found a crocodile squirming in it,” said Haq.

The fishermen took almost an hour to drag the net ashore. Many of them, scared of the writhing and twisting crocodile, fled the scene. The BSF jawans from the nearby camp at Kasemerghat came and sent word to the police.

Sen said the BSF and the police tied the net to a bamboo pole and brought the gharial to the grounds of a primary school. “We took the gharial to Rasikbeel in our vehicle taking care to keep its body moist with water.”