Warangal: Two spotted deer were killed by hunters from Hyderabad in the Mahadevepur forest in Jayashankar Bhupalapalli district on Sunday. The hunters tried to take away the dead animals in a car at night, but were intercepted and managed to escape. Mahadevpur range officer B. Ramesh said that on receiving information about hunters moving around in the Palimela area, they alerted the Mahadevpur checkpost. The hunters’ car was stopped at the checkpost but the men inside pulled out guns and almost ran over officials manning the checkpost, in a bid to escape. The rangers chased the car till Ambatipalli village where the hunters left the car and fled. There were five of them.
“We found two deer inside the car, one female and onemale. The female is pregnant. We also found sharp knives used for skinning the deer. One Aadhar card in the name of Faizal Mohmmad Khan was found with a Hyderabad address. We have filed a case under the Wildlife Protection Act and also informed the police. Based on the clues gathered, the investigation is going on,” forest range officer Ramesh said.
According to other sources, many more people are involved in this crime. Only one car was seized, but three cars and 10 people are said to be involved. It is also being said that forest officials did manage to catch some of the hunters, but released them as one of them is the husband of a local ruling party ZPTC. Forest officials have denied these reports, calling them rumours created locally.
