'Sandalwood Smuggler’ shot dead by forest guards in Mysuru

Mysuru, Feb 12: A 32-year-old youth who unlawfully entered a reserve forest area in south Mysuru was shot dead by forest personnel in the early hours of Saturday. Officials said the deceased, Shankar, was part of a gang of armed smugglers.

Shankar died on the spot after pellets pierced his head and neck, while his associates escaped in the dark. Officials said they opened fire after the smugglers tried to attack them with stones and weapons. When the warning to surrender went unheeded, forest guard Manju opened two rounds of fire in the air and then opened fire at the gang in self-defence, said an official.

Forest officials defended their act by saying "due to undulating landscape, the pellets hit Shankar's head". Immediately , three foresters, including Manju and watchers Nanjunda and Chikkanna, rushed back to the entrance out of fear.

"Following two incidents of sandalwood tree theft in five days, we deployed a team of five personnel to guard the 250-acre protected area.Five trees were felled on February 2 and another four on February 6," DCF (territorial) V Karikalan said.

Patrolling was also intensified in the area near Lingambudhi Lake and the personnel were provided with a jeep.

"On Saturday , two of them were at the entrance while three had gone to check after they heard a noise. Foresters saw the gang members cutting felled sandal trees using a hand saw. Despite repeated warnings, they refused to surrender and instead, tried to attack the team," the DCF said. The incident happened at 2.45 am.

The gang had felled two big trees, one about 150cm in girth. The campus, where precious trees are grown naturally, is not fully fenced.Due to a dispute near a graveyard, there's an unfenced area of about 200 metres, from where the smugglers entered the forest.

"We will soon take steps to fence it and deploy more guards," the DCF added. Shankar was a resident of HD Kote.