Wayanad, Jan 27 (IANS): A tiger that killed the aunt of Indian cricketer Minnu Mani in the Mananthavady area of Kerala's Wayanad district was found dead in the forest on Monday, said officials here.

The tiger killed the 45-year-old tribal woman on Friday (January 24). And, subsequently, the Kerala government officially declared the tiger as a man-eater and ordered that it be shot dead.

Forest veterinarian Dr Arun Zachariah on Monday morning told the media that it was around midnight when they located the tiger and fired a tranquillizer shot. “Around 2.30 a.m., our search team found the tiger dead. There were injuries in its neck and it has been proved beyond doubt that it died due to a conflict with another tiger. It was found dead near a house. It is also now very clear that the dead tiger is the same that killed the lady.”

He said that prima faice the cause of death was the wounds the tiger was suspected to have sustained during encounters with other animals in the forest. It was aged around seven

Zachariah said the exact cause of death of the tiger will be known once the post-mortem is over.

Top forest official Deepa, who is spearheading the operations to shoot the killer tiger, also confirmed that they through around 38 cameras have confirmed that the dead tiger is the same one that took the life of the woman.

On Monday morning with the news spreading in the district that the killer tiger had been found dead, villagers, especially the children heaved a sigh of relief. “We can now go out and play,” was the first reaction of the young kids who were found celebrating hearing the news that the tiger had been found dead.

The locals also were seen in large numbers pouring on the roads and shouting slogans expressing their unity at the time of a grave issue.

The tiger attack victim was identified as Radha, the wife of a temporary Forest Watcher and the aunt of Minnu Mani, the first Kerala female cricketer to represent India.

The state government has announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 11 lakh, of which Rs five lakh has been handed over and her son has been guaranteed a job in the forest department.

In the last 10 years, this is the eighth incident that a person has been killed by a tiger in the Wayanad district.