Police take six persons into custody

Srirangapatna: A farmer sustained serious injuries when a bullet fired by a poacher pierced his stomach. The incident took place at Melapura village in the taluk yesterday.

The injured farmer has been identified as 45-year-old Madesh, son of Mahadeva of Melapura and Srirangapatna Police, who have taken persons hailing from Rammanahalli, Hebbal, Kodagu and Melukote into custody are interrogating them.

Yesterday evening, the accused who had come to Melapura village to hunt wild boars, were waiting for the wild animal and on seeing it, one of the accused fired a shot from a country-made gun, which pierced Madesh’s stomach, who was working in the farm house and damaged the liver. He has been admitted in an ICU at a hospital.

Meanwhile, the villagers have accused the authorities concerned of not taking action despite knowing that poaching of wild boars, wild rabbits and wild cats were taking place in the region. They said that poachers were very active in Mahadevapura Forest and surrounding areas daily since many years, use dogs to search for wild animals, use country-made weapons such as guns and that too without licence to hunt wild animals.

Dy.SP Sandesh Kumar, Inspector Vivekananda, Sub-Inspector Ravi and staff inspected the spot, seized the country-made gun and are investigating after  registering a case.