A royal Bengal tiger evaded traps set up by the forest department and remained elusive till Monday evening, at least four days after straying into a human habitat on the banks of the Piyali river at Kultali in South 24-Parganas.

The wait by foresters to tame the big cat with tranquillisers continued as the animal did not come out of its hideout in the dense jungles.

Forest department authorities have now involved the fire brigade in the operation. Firefighters will use jets to spray cold water in the dense forest on Tuesday with the hope that this will enable the tiger to come out of its hideout.

Unable to track and trap the animal, forest department officials on Monday used drone cameras to spot it and crackers and drums to try and make it come out of its hideout, but nothing worked.

The tiger had sneaked into the Gopalganj of Kultali on Thursday. A few local fishermen had spotted pugmarks on the bank of Matla river on Thursday and alerted forest officials who arrived with nets and cages to trap the tiger.

While not venturing towards the traps, the tiger continued to move around the area and sneaked into the No.5 Garankathi area on Friday. Forest officials laid a trap but by then the tiger appeared to have moved to the adjacent riverbank. On Saturday, it was spotted near Dongajora-Kella when a group of picnickers heard its roars while on boat ride on the Piyali and interconnected Matla rivers.

A new trap was laid on Saturday night, but the tiger moved further.

On Sunday, it was spotted in the jungle adjacent to the Sekhpara area when forest officials cordoned off the area enclosing it with rubber and nylon nets. It was spotted once when it attacked and injured a villager who was fixing nets along with forest department workers.

The delay in trapping the tiger has created resentment among residents in Sekhpara as they are forced to stay indoors and miss out on work.

Aware of the resentment, forest authorities on Monday engaged trained personnel to tranquilise the tiger and deputed them on temporary towers. Forest authorities and local administration have now engaged around 200 trained personnel in the operation.

“We zeroed in on an area in Sekhpara village and enclosed it with nets. We expected to capture the tiger with tranquilliser guns but it did not come out,” a senior forest official said. Fearing the possibility of the tiger escaping from the netted enclosure, forest authorities with help of the administration evacuated the area.

Forest minister Jyotipriyo Mullick again urged the people to have patience and cooperate with forest officials. “Our officials and personnel of the department are trying their best to trap the tiger by risking their lives... I am hopeful that the tiger will be trapped soon.”