Pauri, Uttarakhand: Rajesh Negi's body was handed over to his family after post-mortem (Representational)

The half-eaten body of a forest guard was recovered from Uttarakhand's Kalagarh forest division on Monday, a day after he was attacked by a tiger, a senior official said.

Rajesh Negi, 40, was returning from patrolling duty with other forest guards late on Sunday night when the tiger attacked him and dragged him into the forests, Kalagarh Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Punit Tomar said.

Other members of the patrol party fired in the air to scare away the big cat but to no avail, he said.

According to the DFO, senior forest officials were informed and a search was launched but Mr Negi could not be traced.

His half-eaten body was recovered from the forests near Chaukham after the search was resumed on Monday morning, Mr Tomar said.

Mr Negi's body was handed over to his family after a post-mortem, he said.