Mysuru: The Forest Department officials have taken two more persons into custody in connection with the wildfire in Bandipur Tiger Reserve, on Friday. With the arrests, the number of accused is now three.  

The arrested have been identified as  70-year-old Hanumantaiah and 60-year-old Gopaiah, of Chowdahalli in Gundlupet taluk. The officials had arrested Arun Kumar of Kallipura on Thursday.

A team, led by Gopalaswamy Hill RFO Puttaswamy, took the accused into custody and produced them before the Court.

According to the officer, the accused have confessed to the crime.  The duo set a dry grass patch on fire to chase tigers away on Feb. 22, leading to large-scale fire, destroying thousands of acres of forest cover. The accused were grazing cattle on the fringes of the forest and thus they set fire to protect the domestic animals from tigers, the officer said.

The accused have been booked under Sections 27, 29, 30, 31, 50 and 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. It may be mentioned that fire destroyed nearly 12,000 acres of forest, under Bandipur Tiger Reserve.