Bhopal, March 11 :     Tigress Sita of Bandhavgarh, well-known in wildlife circles for her fertility rate, was killed by a gang of poachers and did not die a natural death, as earlier hinted by forest officers. Sita, who was missing since last November, attracted global interest after she featured on a National Geographic cover. The article made her a major tourist attraction in Bandhavgarh. After four months of intense search, forest officers received information that a tiger?s bones and nails had been found in a neighbouring tribal village. A team of officers, led by the district forest officer of Bandhavgarh, raided Dhobi village. Interrogation of the villagers led to the arrest of one Janardhan, a Baiga tribal. A small sack, full of bones and nails, believed to be Sita?s, was seized from Janardhan?s house. Subsequent interrogation of Janardhan revealed that a seven-member poaching gang had trapped the tigress last month, shot it dead after taking it out of the forest area, skinned it and carried away body-parts in a Maruti. The poachers allegedly belonged to the ?Hanka? gang, which forms part of the international tiger trade and has been active in this part of Rewa district for about a decade. Although Janardhan?s account is still being verified, forest officers believe he, too, was an accomplice. They are also trying to verify if the tigress was killed only a month ago. If Sita was killed in January, as Janardhan said, where was Sita between November and December? The forest officers do not have an answer. In fact, several question marks hang on the role of the forest officers too. When The Telegraph first broke the story on Sita?s disappearance in December, senior officers in Bandhavgarh were almost sure Sita had died a natural death. Asked about the whereabouts of the tigress? body, forest officer A.K. Nagar had said: ?That may not be visible, the process of decay is so fast.? The forest officers did not even refer the case of the missing tigress to the tiger cell of Madhya Pradesh police. U.N. Joshi, additional director-general of state police and tiger cell in-charge, told The Telegraph: ?We have not received any complaint. We have just come to know that it has been killed by poachers.? Additional conservator of wildlife S.K. Sharma said though Sita was not found in her defined territory, it was possible that she had strayed into another lair. ?Several theories were doing the round, but poaching was the last thing on our minds,? Sharma said. Specialists in the tiger cell said involvement of a tribal has been an old style of operation for poachers. ?A tribal is the only one who gets access to the forest. The poachers often lure the tribals with a meagre loan of Rs 2,000. When the tribal is unable to repay the loan, he is asked to poison a tiger for the poacher. A tribal thus gets trapped in the vicious circle of animal trade,? said a senior investigating officer of the tiger trade. In Sita?s case, police suspect Janardhan poisoned the tigress first, following which she was carried out of the forest and skinned. In general, a tigress exhausts her fertility after three litters, but Sita delivered 18 cubs in six litters, making her a genetical wonder.