Drunk Seoni man offers liquor to tiger, pets its head:Claims he thought it was a cat; Pench Tiger Reserve officials deny viral video’s authenticity

A video from Seoni has surfaced. The video shows a person stroking a tiger’s head and offering it alcohol. The video claims that Raju Patel (52) from a village adjacent to Pench Tiger Reserve mistook a tiger for a cat while intoxicated. The video shows that Raju not only stroked the tiger’s head but also offered it local liquor. This video started attracting various comments on social media. People were reacting in various ways to Raju’s ‘fearlessness or drunken bravery’. However, Rajneesh Kumar Singh, Deputy Director of Pench Tiger Reserve, has called this video fake. He extended the bottle, the tiger sniffed and ignored it.
It is being reported that Raju Patel was returning home late at night after playing cards with friends and was intoxicated. During this, he saw something moving on the roadside. The video shows that he stood near the tiger for about 5-10 minutes. He extended the bottle, which the tiger sniffed but ignored. Forest Department called such acts dangerous
The Forest Department has described such close proximity activities in rural areas as extremely dangerous. Especially in the Pench region where several cases of human-tiger conflict have recently come to light. Deputy Director Rajneesh Kumar Singh said that there is no truth in the viral video. It should be investigated.