The Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Botanical Garden and Zoo in Mumbai's Byculla has clarified that Shakti, a nine-and-a-half-year-old Royal Bengal tiger, died of pneumonia-induced respiratory failure and not due to a bone stuck in his airway, as claimed by some media reports.

Shakti, brought to the zoo in 2020 along with tigress Karishma under an exchange programme, had stopped eating on November 15 and was under veterinary care.