Calcutta, May 25: Alipore zoo has a jewel in its rusty crown— the biggest Royal Bengal tiger — a maneater at that — the zoo has ever housed.

And on Tuesday evening, the pride of the zoo was christened Sunderkanta (the pride of the Sunderbans).

Minister for environment and forests Jogesh Burman was present in the zoo when the maneater of Samshergunge got his name.The alpha male was brought to the city from the Sunderbans in grand style, with hooters blaring, red lights flashing atop the van, and a ‘convoy’ led by a pilot car.

“The tiger was trapped and caged from Samshergunge, in Hemnagar village, and we have seen nothing like it in the past 50 years. It’s big and strong and has quite a fearsome reputation as a maneater. His most recent victim was a teenaged girl, Rupasi Bawri,” said Pradip Vyas, director of the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve (STR). According to Vyas, the 12-year-old tiger was a terror in the area. “On two previous attempts, we had managed to capture the tiger, but this particular creature, being really strong, had managed to break free,” Vyas elaborated.