Forest Department confirmed the death of one of their staff during an operation to remove nets cast for illegal fishing in the Gundre range of Bandipur Tiger Reserve in the early hours of Saturday.
Another guard is missing and a search and rescue operation has been launched to trace the missing person. The deceased was identified as Mahesh, 26, while Shivakumar, 33, is missing.
Mr. T. Balachandra, Conservator of Forest and Director, Bandipur Tiger Reserve, told The Hindu that the field staff received information late on Friday night about illegal fishing in the backwaters of Kabini.
The team comprising Deputy Range Forest Officer Kumaraswamy, forest guard Mahadev, forest watcher Manju, care taker Mahesh, Shivakumar and a few outsourced employees reached the spot in the Gundre range and encircled the area where fishing nets were cast. But the staff did not find any human presence at that hour and started removing the fishing nets.
“But it transpired that those who had cast the nets were hiding on the other side of the river bank. It is suspected that more than a dozen persons came in 10-12 coracles, confronted and attacked the forest guards and staff, “said Mr. Balachandra.
While the forest guards retreated as they were heavily outnumbered, four of them got on to another coracle to withdraw from the scene. But in the melee, the coracle capsized even as the miscreants escaped under the cover of darkness. There are unconfirmed reports that the miscreants opened fire.
Of the four guards on the coracle, Mr. Mahadev swam to safety and reached the river bank. A reinforcement team was sent from D.B. Kuppe range which rescued one of the staff, Bomma, who was stranded on the opposite side of the river bank. A search operation was launched to trace the others and the body of Mr. Mahesh — suspected to have drowned — was recovered. Mr. Shivakumar is missing.
Senior Forest officials, including Mr. Balachandra and local police, were at the spot and further details are awaited.
