Chamarajanagar, 9 Sept 

At least seven forest staff were allegedly held captive by villagers in a cage kept for a tiger after they failed to catch the animal, in Chamarajanagar district, sources said on Tuesday.

According to forest department sources, the big cat strayed from the forest to Bommalapur in Gundlupet Taluk about a month ago and has been roaming around the village.

The repeated sightings of the tiger had scared the villagers, who complained to the forest officials.

Accordingly, the forest officials decided to trap the animal. They installed a cage in the location where the tiger was often sighted.

The forest officials put a goat as bait, but the tiger did not get trapped and continued to scare villagers, especially at night.

The villagers made repeated pleas to the forest officials to catch the tiger.

Seeing no prompt response from the forest department, the villagers protested by locking them in the cage.

The district in June had witnessed the death of a tigress and her four cubs.