A marsh crocodile which had strayed from the Hooghly into a village in Nadia’s Nakashipara, around 165km from Kolkata, was captured by a team of foresters late on Friday.
The crocodile was released into the river near the Farakka barrage in Murshidabad hours later.
The crocodile was first spotted a few days ago near a lake by a group of villagers.
The area is 500m from the river bank. It was then spotted inside the village, said forest officials.
Marsh or mugger crocodiles are medium-sized and broad-snouted. They are found in freshwater habitats across India.
But since the Farakka barrage came up, their sightings in downstream Hooghly have gone down, said a forest official.
Foresters captured the crocodile close to midnight. Snout tied with nylon ropes, the reptile was loaded into a car and driven over 100km to Farakka.
“Hooghly is their natural habitat. They often stray to oxbow lakes for fish. We captured this one because it had further strayed into a village,” said Pradip Bauri, Nadia’s divisional forest officer.