Body found in Palar River

M.M. Hills: A poacher from Tamil Nadu was killed in a crossfire between the poachers and Forest staff at Kokkarehalla of Adipalar Forest in Gopinatham Forest Range of Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary. The incident has come to light lately.

On Feb. 14 (Tuesday) night, the shootout took place and the poachers from Tamil Nadu had jumped into Palar River and had escaped. But on Friday, the body of one of the poachers was found floating in the River which passes Erode district and it has been confirmed that he had died in the crossfire.

Tamil Nadu Forest officials have identified the body as that of Raju, a professional poacher. It is learnt that Raju was a part of the team of poachers, who had escaped along with others when there was a shootout between the poachers and Forest staff in 2014 during which poacher Palini was killed.

Details

On Feb. 14, when Forest Guard Mallikarjun and another staff were patrolling over the forest at Jeenu Kallu Watch Tower near Gopinatham, they saw a group of poachers with torch lights walking inside the forest area at about 8 pm and informed their higher officials.

Soon, Deputy Range Forest Officer (DRFO) Dinesh, along with the staff at Kokkarehalla Gate and Forest Guards Sunil Yamanappa and Watchers Shivakumar and Madesh of Palar Wildlife Zone, divided themselves into two teams and went in search of the poachers.

During their search operation, they noticed a coracle in the backwaters of Palar River in Adipalar Forest Area. Suspecting that the poachers would come to the spot, the Forest staff hid behind rocks waiting for the poachers. At about 12 midnight, they heard two gun shots inside the forest and at about 1.30 am, when the poachers were coming towards the coracle, the Tamil Nadu Forest staff, who were on the other side of the river bank, flashed the torch lights which fell on the Karnataka Forest staff. Soon, the poachers began to fire from about 20 to 25 mts distance on the Karnataka Forest staff.

Meanwhile, Forest Guards Mallikarjun, Sunil and Yamanappa opened fire from their single barrel gun in self defence. While a few poachers fled from the spot under the cover of darkness, two poachers jumped into Palar River. It was not known whether the poachers were injured in the firing by the Karnataka Forest staff or any of them died. When the Forest staff conducted a search, they found carcasses of two deer hunted by the poachers, one country made gun, one head torch, one torch charger, two pairs of slippers and one mobile phone, which they have seized.

Gopinatham RFO S. Sampath Patel has lodged a complaint at M.M. Hills Police Station.