BENGALURU: A forest officer who had won the ‘Best Wildlife Protector’ award from the Forest Department for 2013-14 for performing his duty diligently and honestly today stands accused of murder. Deputy Range Forest Officer Ravi of Doddaalahalli section, Sangam Range, Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary has been booked under IPC Sections 302 and 201 by the police for causing the death of an alleged poacher Gurumurthy on March 16.
Sathanur PSI Bhaskar has booked a murder case against Ravi after Shivaraju, the brother-in-law of Gurumurthy, from Doddaalahalli filed a complaint stating that Forest officials were responsible for his relative’s death.
It may be recalled two groups of alleged poachers and Forest officials were involved in a shooting incident in Chilandavadi forest near Uyyamballi in Kanakpura taluk when they were caught red-handed with the carcasses of a spotted deer and a porcupine. In the ensuing anti-poaching operations, the body of a poacher was found by forest officials the next morning along with a rifle.
But Doddaalahalli villagers accused forest officials of deliberately killing Gurumurthy who, they claimed, had come to search for his sister’s missing cows in the dead of the night in deep forests.
Ravi (38) has worked in the troubled Sangam range for four years after his promotion as Deputy RFO. Earlier, he has served as a forest guard in Hanur range. Following the firing incident, he was attacked by villagers. Ravi has applied for bail at the Kanakpura JMFC court. His family including his wife, parents and two children are a worried lot as they feel working in the forest division is no longer safe.