A youth sustained severe injuries on the left hand when he accidentally mishandled a suspected explosive in the Western Ghats on Friday evening.
Police said M. Lenin (28), of Therkku Medu under Puliyarai police station limits, came to Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital with bleeding injuries on the left hand. During interrogation, Lenin told the police that he had gone to the Western Ghats near his hamlet to collect herbal plants.
As a few monkeys chased him even as he was busy collecting the plants, he pelted stones at the animals in a bid to save himself. When one of the stone-like object he was holding in his left hand exploded violently, Lenin suffered injuries in the hand, which now has highly mutilated fingers.
Police, who are trying to ascertain the victim’s version, are also attempting to know whether Lenin got injured when he was hunting animals in the jungle with explosives.
