BENGALURU: Forest Minister Ramalinga Reddy on Monday said he is ready to put in his papers if BJP leaders genuinely believe that he should take moral responsibility for the Chamarajanagar encounter in which three alleged poachers were killed by the forest staff.
LoP R Ashoka, raising the issue in the Assembly on Monday, demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident, compensation of Rs 1 crore to the families of the deceased and Reddy’s resignation. The minister replied that compensation cannot be considered if the deceased were found to be poachers and not farmers. He told Ashoka that a magisterial inquiry is going on. “The report is expected in three days. We have this session for the next two weeks. We will place the report here. If not satisfied, we will speak to the chief minister,’’ he told the Assembly. He also said that if officials were found to be wrong, action will be taken against them.
The House proceedings began on Monday with BJP and JDS members attacking the government on the encounter case. They did not allow Speaker GS Patil to take up the question-and-answer session.
Reddy said forest officials got an alert about poaching around 8 pm on August 14. Two teams were sent into the forest to trace the suspects and they could spot the poachers only around 5 am. The poachers attacked the forest staff, prompting them to retaliate with firing.
As the suspects were positioned at a higher elevation, the forest personnel used slide-action guns loaded with small pellets which spread and struck different parts of the body. “The forest staff opened fire in self-defence and they did not have any other intention. Later, they noticed the three poachers on the ground, wreathing in pain,’’ he said.
The injured were taken to the Primary Health centre at Hanur, where there were no doctors. Then they were shifted to the Kollegal sub-division hospital, where they were declared brought dead. The police later shifted the bodies to KR Hospital in Mysuru. Reddy said forest officials seized two country-made firearms, utensils, vegetables, knives, spices, meat and other items. He denied the claims of villagers that the deceased men were in the forest searching for missing cattle.
Reddy said that after the incident, miscreants damaged forest department properties. Cases have been registered against them. He added that the forest staff acted only to defend themselves and not out of hatred towards anyone.