HUBBALI: In an interesting turn of events the foresters in Sirsi have managed to solve a mystery behind the death of a 62-year-old man and a great Indian gaur. On August 19, the Siddapur police received a complaint that a wild boar has attacked a man and killed him near Balur in Siddapur taluk. At the same time, at a little distance away a carcass of great Indian gaur (Indian bison) was also found.
Though both cases could not be interlinked they were taken up as separate cases by forest and police departments.
But now it turns out that there was no wild boar involved in the incident at all. The victim, Abdul Jabbar Khan, 62, along with his son Harris, 21, shot the guar and in turn, got attacked when they went near the dying animal to cut the throat.
“From the beginning we were skeptical about wild boar killing the man. But in the confession statement, son of the victim had explained that the boar attacked his father and he fell on the ground injuring his head. But in reality, the dying animal which had already received three bullets came into aggression when Abdul neared it with a knife in hand. The gaur pierced its horn in his legs and thrown him off on the ground. That is when Abdul got injuries on his head (sic),” an investigating officer told TNIE.
It is suspected that the father and son duo may have been following the particular guar for some time. As forest officials had sighted a gaur a few days ago that was limping and was separated from its herd.
It is possible that the gaur may have got attacked by a carnivore or may have had some wound making it easy prey for not only carnivores but also the poachers.
“The duo have shot the animal thinking its weak. But later when they neared it the animal has gathered its strength one last time to charge them. Soon after the incident the forest team took combing around the crime scene where a live cartridge, used cartridge and a blood-stained cloth was found. There were also signs of distress of a dying gaur
We are now looking for the victim’s who is expected to be in police net any time (sic),” the officer added.