Pramesh S Jain & Yogesh K Porwar
Forest patrolling staff shot a 38-year-old suspected sandalwood thief dead at Bannerghatta forest area in the wee hours of Wednesday.
While the deceased Muniraju,a construction labourer and resident of Natuvarahalli in Masti taluk of Kolar district was killed his associate managed to flee .
The incident occurred at around 1.15 am when patrolling staff on duty heard the tree cutting noise in Kalkere forest range .
They followed the noise and found a Gutkha packet and an empty water bottle under a tree.Sensing that the thieves are around,the forest officials fired in the air to scare and later shot at the thieves when they reportedly tried to attack the patrolling staff.
Senior police officials and District administrative officials visited the spot to conduct spot inspections .
The police have stepped up investigation to track down the accused who fled the scene.The police recovered tree cutting tools from the spot and taken up a case for further investigations.
