The tigress who could outsmart 65 camera traps to track her fell to a bullet fired by sharp-shooter Asghar Ali after she had been lured by the urine of another tigress and an American perfume.

The man-eater, believed to have been responsible for the deaths of 13 people in Maharashtra in the past two years, was shot dead in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district as part of an operation, police said on Saturday.

T1, as she was known officially, was killed on Friday night, they said.

“Avni was shot dead by sharp-shooter Asgar Ali, son of the famous sharp-shooter Nawab Shafat Ali, at compartment No. 149 of the Borati forest under the jurisdiction of the Ralegaon police station,” a police official said.

“Avni, who was known in the Pandharkawda forest area, had killed 13 people over the last two years in the region,” he said.

In September this year, the Supreme Court had said Avni could be shot at sight, which prompted a flurry of online petitions seeking pardon for the tigress.

For more than three months, forest department officials have been planning to catch her with the help of the latest technology. Trained sniffer dogs, trap cameras, drones and a hang-glider, expert trackers, sharp-shooters and around 200 ground personnel were roped in for the task, he said.

The forest department on Friday carried out the operation in Borati with the help of Asgar Ali, he said.

“Urine of another tigress and American perfume was spread in some part of the compartment, following which Avni came by sniffing it,” the official said.

“The forest officials initially tried to nab her alive. However, due to dense forest and darkness, they were unable to do so and finally a bullet was fired in which the tigress fell on the spot,” he said.

“After she became motionless, forest officials went closer to her and later rushed her to a hospital in Nagpur, where she was declared dead,” the official said.

The post-mortem is in progress, he said.

Social media erupted in anger as soon as reports of Avni's death tricked in, with some people calling out Maharashtra's Devendra Fadvanis government for the 'murder' in 'cold blood'.

Some users cried 'animal cruelty', saying proper protocol wasn't followed in the operation and that no wildlife veterinary surgeon was accompanying the shooter.

Avni leaves behind two cubs, and a whole lot of unanswered questions.

Written with PTI reports