A forest official takes aim with his tranquiliser gun to trap the tiger at Sirsia village in West Champaran on Monday. Picture by Awadh Kishore Tiwari

A tiger is on the prowl at Sirsia village in West Champaran district and attacked at least six villagers, injuring them. The animal is believed to have escaped from the Valmiki Tiger Reserve’s (VTR) Madanpur range.

The victims were attacked when they went to relieve themselves in the wheat fields around 4.30am on Monday.

They managed to flee from the spot and rushed back to the village to raise an alarm.

As news of the tiger attacks spread, around 50 residents of the village, around 250km northwest of Patna and 16km north on Bettiah, descended on the area and surrounded the field.

Sensing trouble, the tiger pounced on a few villagers and injured two more around 7am.

The police and forest department officials camping at the site had a tough time controlling the crowds, to prevent a stampede.

A tiger tracker, Pappu Ram, who tried to capture the big cat with a net was attacked when he tried to approach it.

All the victims — identified as Lalmuni Devi, Nirmala Devi, Jokhu Paswan and Surendra Mahto — have been sent to Chanpatia government hospital, said a source in the forest department.

The tiger is believed to be the same one that was reportedly spotted in Vaishali last year.

District forest officer Kamaljeet Singh said: “The situation is under control. We are hopeful that we shall trap the tiger before dusk. A team of experts have come from Patna to tranquillise the animal.”

The team arrived around 4pm but the tiger had not been captured till the filing of this report. Singh was heading the operation.

As it is time for harvest, the thick cover of crops has provided the tiger a safe place to hide in.

Asked about the protection of the tiger, which could be attacked by the mob gathered at the site , chief wildlife warden Bashir Ahmad Khan said: “The team of experts are trying to deal with the situation. We also have enough police personnel at the site.”

He added that once the tiger has been tranquilised and the medical team conducts a check-up, the big cat would be taken to the tiger reserve.

VTR director-cum-conservator of forests Santosh Tiwari is on leave. But he spoke to The Telegraph over telephone. “I have been monitoring the situation since morning and have been keeping a close eye on the developments,” he said.