Suspected poachers shot from close range on August 15 at Chamarajanagar: BJP

BENGALURU: The BJP on Monday alleged that the suspected poachers killed in Chamarajanagar district on August 15 were shot from close range.

The party said this, sharing purported autopsy reports of the three suspected poachers with the media on WhatsApp.

The BJP state president B Y Vijayendra charged that the state government was hiding the truth regarding the shootout in the Hanur forest.

Addressing a press conference at Vidhana Soudha, Vijayendra said the BJP had already constituted a fact-finding committee to ascertain the truth about the incident.

The committee visited the spot and collected information, following which several serious questions and doubts had emerged, he said.

Vijayendra asked why the government was not releasing the post-mortem report though the bodies were "hurriedly sent for post-mortem examination".

"The government must answer why the post-mortem report is not being released. What is the need to hide the report? Shouldn't people know what is in the report? The fact that the report has not been released itself has raised several doubts," he said.

Displaying photographs of the incident at the press conference, the BJP state chief alleged that the photographs appeared to show a gun being placed near the shoulder of one of the deceased and a shot being fired from an extremely close range.

He also raised questions over what appeared to be marks of shots fired from close range at the back of the neck.

"According to experts, this does not appear to be a case where shots were fired from long range. There is a possibility that the shots were fired from close range. We have information that the doctors who conducted the post-mortem have also mentioned this aspect in their report," Vijayendra said.

He said a comprehensive examination of all these aspects raised doubts over whether this was a routine encounter or whether there was some other reason behind it.

Vijayendra said those killed in the encounter were not habitual offenders or people who were continuously involved in criminal activities.

He also demanded that the government clarify the whereabouts of a person named Mahimadas, who had gone into the forest.

"Mahimadas could be a key witness in this case. But there is a suspicion that the Forest Department and the Police Department are attempting to hide him. The government must disclose where he is,” the BJP state chief said.

Vijayendra demanded an investigation into whether any irregularities were taking place in the Forest Department, whether those killed in the encounter had information about such irregularities and whether they were targeted and fired upon for that reason.

He also demanded that Forest Minister Ramalinga Reddy should resign immediately and the case should be handed over to the CBI.

The BJP state chief said those killed in the shootout belonged to poor families. On humanitarian grounds, the government should provide Rs 1 crore compensation and a government job to each of the families of the deceased.

"We should not bring the religious aspect into this entire tragedy. They were Kannadigas who resided in Karnataka," the Shikaripura MLA said.

Three suspected poachers, John Rose Peter, Sebastian David Kumar and Anthony Swamy, were shot dead in the forest on August 15.

The forest officials said they were poachers who had hunted a deer. They also claimed that firearms and the remains of the deer were found in their bags.

The issue has echoed in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, with political parties claiming the victims were Tamils and had questioned the Karnataka officials' explanation over the firing incident.

Following the incident, Tamil Nadu CM C Joseph Vijay strongly condemned the alleged killings and said the explanation given by the Karnataka Forest Department regarding the incident is unacceptable.

A fair investigation should be conducted by a high-level committee on the heinous incident, he had said in a social media post late on Sunday.

The issue also came up in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Tuesday, with members moving a calling attention and demanding a high-level probe into the forest department firing incident.