NEW DELHI: A adult male cheetah named Suraj from Namibia died at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh (MP). He is the eighth of the Cheetahs to die in the past five months after they were translocated from Namibia South Africa on September 17 last year amidst great fanfare by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had been photographed taking pictures of the cheetahs. Only three days ago another translocated male cheetah, Tejas, had died at the park.

According to park officials, a team of veterinarians and forest officials rushed to the spot where Suraj was found lying still in Palpur East Forest Range's Masavani beat by a monitoring team on Friday morning at about 9 am, and when they went closer, they found insects hovering over its neck, he had already died. The team has reportedly injury marks on his back and neck, however, a detailed report after an autopsy was still awaited.

Only three days ago another translocated male cheetah, Tejas, had died at the park, and it is suspected that Tejas, aged around four years, died due to infighting. 

MP forest minister Vijay Shah has said that the three cubs that died earlier were malnourished from birth itself, while other deaths were from fights during mating or eating, which is common among animals. Even wildlife experts have been warning that relocation could see high mortality as the animals try to establish territories and come face to face with other wild cats like leopards and tigers.

A total of eight Namibian cheetahs, including five females and three males were released into KNP on September 17 last year at a high-profile event led by PM Modi, in February this year, 12 more cheetahs arrived at KNP from South Africa. The birth of four cubs had taken the total count of cheetahs to 24, but eight deaths have now brought it down to 16.

Vijay Shah rejected any allegation of mismanagement leading to the deaths saying that the Indian government along with the South African government, and the Namibia team are involved in the management of cheetahs and everything is being done as per their directions.

He also said that Prime Minister's Office (PMO) was keeping a close watch on everything. "Everything is being done in the direction of the PMO. There is no negligence on our part," he said.

Meanwhile, MP Congress chief Kamal Nath took the state government to task over the eight deaths claiming the latter had not come forward with any plan or taken the initiative to conserve the big cats. "Making wild animals an object of display for the political show doesn't look nice for an elected representative," he said.

Former chief minister and another Congress MP Digvijaya Singh also ridiculed the central government over the cheetah deaths and said "photographer Modiji" must click pictures of the incident.