More than a fortnight after the gruesome killing of a spotted deer by an inter-State gang of poachers in Lankapalli reserve forest area, the probe into the case is yet to make much headway as three more members of the gang were still at large.
A gang of poachers consisting of five members led by a sharpshooter allegedly shot dead a spotted deer with an imported air gun over a fortnight ago. The gang, consisting of members belonging to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, tracked the movement of deer in the vicinity of the reserve forest area in a Scorpio and carried out the poaching operation in the dead of night. The gang reportedly used an air gun equipped with night vision device made in Tokyo, sources said.
The gang’s modus operandi indicated that professional poachers were involved in the incident. The Forest Department field staff managed to apprehend two members of the gang near the incident site the same night. They seized the carcass of the deer and an air gun besides the Scorpio vehicle from their possession. Three more members of the gang managed to escape under cover of darkness. The subsequent investigation by the law enforcement authorities revealed that the Scorpio belongs to a contractor in Mancherial in Adilabad district.
Srinivas and Chitti Babu, the members of the gang involved in killing a spotted deer in Lankapalli forest area last month, have already been arrested, said Naga Sai Prasad, Forest Range Officer, Sattupalli.
