THENI: The family of a 55-year-old man shot at allegedly by forest officials near Gudalur forest range called off their protest and accepted the deceased's body on Monday. Andipatti MLA A Maharajan held talks with the protesters and assured them of action against the officials along with compensation to the family.
According to sources, A Eswaran of Kullappagoundanpatti village was shot at by the officials on Saturday night, when the man allegedly tried to attack the foresters with a sickle when they saw him installing an illegal electric fence for poaching.
The officials opened fire for self-defence and Eswaran died. Stating that he was just doing security guard work, his family staged a protest near Theni Government Hospital demanding action against the officials. Later, they agreed to proceed with the postmortem and the body was taken to his native for the last rites.