Manje Gowda left home on Tuesday evening without telling his wife Lolakshi where he was going. Two days later, his body reached his house at Mathighatta Hosuru, near Halebid. The family was told that he was killed when the Forest Department guards opened fire at suspected woodcutters in a sandalwood plantation at Tirumala Devara Gudda near Salagame.
M.L. Manjunath, Deputy Conservator of Forests, said, “The accused threw stones and sticks at our staff, prompting them to open fire. They ran away. Gowda’s body was found at the spot the following morning.”
The Tirumala Devara Gudda forest includes a sandalwood plantation spread over 600 ha. Apart from forest watchers, daily wage workers and forest guards with arms are deployed here.
Meanwhile, the family is not only clueless why Manje Gowda was there and what exactly happened. Worse, they are in dire straits financially with the lone earning member gone.
Manje Gowda’s wife Lolakshi and their children had no money to even pay the ambulance driver, who demanded Rs. 3,500 to take the body from Hassan to their village. “We borrowed from the neighbours and relatives,” Ms. Lolakshi told The Hindu .
Married to Gowda 15 years ago, she now has to take care of their two children — Shashank (14) and Rakshitha (13). Gowda, a farmer, had grown maize in kharif season in 3 acres of land. “He spent Rs. 20,000 on the crop. The yield is only so much because of a decrease in rainfall,” she said, pointing at the maize spread on the pavement in front of the house.
The family members claim they do not know who accompanied Gowda to the forest and why he was there. Gowda was also working as a farm labourer. “If he was into sandalwood business, he would not have kept his family in this condition,” said Sukanya, a relative.
The incident has surprised human rights campaigners. Mari Joseph, a human rights activist, said, “It is inhuman to kill a person suspecting him to be a sandalwood thief. The department should have made an effort to nab those involved in such acts instead of opening fire,” he said.
