Huge Crocodile Swallows 10-Year-Old Child Alive, Angry Villagers Torture Reptile

A huge crocodile reportedly swallowed a 10-year-old child, while the boy was taking a bath in a river in India.

According to local media reports, the reptile attacked the boy in the Chambal river, which flows through the state of Madhya Pradesh on Monday morning.

The boy, identified as Atar Kevat, went deep into the river when the 8-foot-long crocodile emerged out of the water and dragged the child away, Free Press Journal reported. People, who were at the scene, rushed to help the boy, but the crocodile had already taken him away. Later, the child's family and other people used sticks, rope and a net to capture the crocodile.

The villagers believed the boy may still be alive after being swallowed by the crocodile, India Today reported. They started torturing the creature with sticks and wanted to cut open its stomach to get the boy out. The villagers also said in case the crocodile spit the child out, they would release the reptile, and put a bamboo stick in the reptile's mouth to prevent it from chewing.

“The boy went deep into the river while bathing. The villagers said that the child had been swallowed by a crocodile. Then they caught the crocodile using a net and sticks. The alligator department has started action in the matter," Raghunathpur police station in-charge Shyam Veer Singh Tomar told India Today.

However, the police officials and the alligator department convinced the villagers to release the crocodile. The fate of the child remains unknown. It remains unknown what the forest department planned to do with the crocodile in order to find the victim.

Last year, a teenager was attacked and dragged into a deep river by a crocodile, while fishing in the eastern state of Odisha. The boy was with his younger brother in Kharasrota river when the incident took place. According to reports, the victim – identified as Soumyaranjan Mallick – was near the water body when the crocodile leaped out and dragged the boy away. His younger brother raised an alarm after he noticed the crocodile.