VIJAYAWADA: A Red Sander woodcutter from Tamil Nadu was shot down by the Red Sander Anti-Smuggling Task Force of the Andhra Pradesh police in Chittoor district during the early hours of Saturday. The Task Force personnel reportedly came under attack by the smugglers prompting them to open fire, police said.
A team of forest and Task Force officials were combing the Gollapalli forest area near Srikalahasti when they came across a group of woodcutters, police said.
The woodcutters allegedly pelted stones on the police personnel prompting the latter to open fire in the air. However, the woodcutters continued to target the Task Force and Forest officials after which the policemen fired at the miscreants, killing one of them.
Police and Task Force personnel have cordoned off the entire forest area and launched a massive combing operation in the forests to nab the woodcutters who escaped into deep forests.
Meanwhile, the deceased smuggler has been identified as Kamaraju (55) of Tiruvannamalai. It is also learnt that another smuggler is nabbed by the police and investigation is on.