The royal Bengal Tiger that had strayed into human habitation in Kultali of South 24-Parganas district last Thursday and evaded traps and drone cameras, was finally on Tuesday morning tranquillised inside an enclosed jungle.

Nabbing the tiger was made possible only after the fire brigade team, which was engaged by the forest department, began to spray water and burst crackers filled with chilli powder near the big cat’s suspected hideout, compelling it to come out.

Two tranquillisers were immediately pumped into it that eventually made it unconscious within a few minutes.

The tiger was later put into a cage wrapped with black cloth and taken to an animal health care facility at Bonny camp in the Jharkhali area of Sunderbans for medical test, a forest official said. It regained consciousness while it was being taken for medical check-up on a boat. It is expected to be released in Dhulibhasani jungle on Wednesday.

Divisional forest officer Milan Kumar Mandal said: “We will release the tiger in the jungle after medical examination. Preliminary examination found nothing unusual in its health status except it appeared to be an aged one.”

Forest officials estimated that the animal was around eight years old.

Reacting to the much-anticipated success, forest minister Jyotipriya Mullick said: “We have been able to provide relief to local villagers who were spending anxious days. We will examine the tiger’s health and after experts allow us, we will release it into the forest.”

Officials of the forest department as well those of the police and district administration heaved a sigh of relief with the netting of the tiger on the sixth day.

Its remaining elusive for five days had caused embarrassment to the administration and it was heightened with the people losing patience as curbs on their movements had to be imposed in the area.

Tuesday’s operation, however, did not remain without glitches. A member of the specially trained tiger trapping team got injured while putting the cage onto the boat. The person, identified as Mangal Samanta, who came from Maipith, had to be taken to a local hospital for treatment.

The tiger had strayed into Gopalganj of Kultali last Thursday. Forest officials arrived with nets and cages to nab it. But the animal remained elusive. On Friday, it sneaked into No.5 Garankathi area. A trap was laid using a goat. But the tiger moved towards the riverbank. On Saturday, it was spotted near the Dongajora-Kella area when a group of picnickers on a boat heard it roaring. A new trap was laid that night, but the tiger avoided it.

On Sunday, it was spotted in the jungle adjacent to the Sekhpara area when the forest officials were enclosing it with rubber and nylon net. But it fled inside after attacking a villager. On Monday, the tiger remained elusive despite forest officials bursting crackers to bring it out of its hideout. The efforts went in vain till on Tuesday morning when a fire brigade team sprayed water in the jungle and crackers were burst. This time, the tiger came out around 8.30am and was tranquillised.