Wildlife criminals fired on forest department staff, killing one beat watcher and seriously injuring another personnel in the wee hours on Saturday. On Friday night, the forest department personnel were conducting checks in the Barhaini range of Kaladhungi area.
They received a tip off from an informant about criminals cutting Khair trees on the banks of the Bor river in the Barhaini range of Terai central forest division. The range officer Roop Narayan Gautam formed a team under the beat officer and dispatched it to the site while also leaving for the location himself. The team which reached the site first was waiting for the criminals when at about 2 AM they came to carry away the illegally felled timber. At that time, beat watcher Bahadur Singh Chauhan shone a torch on them, eliciting sporadic firing from the criminals. While Chauhan was shot in the stomach, another staff member Mahendra Singh was shot in the leg.
In the ensuing panic, the injured department personnel were taken to the Sushila Tiwari government medical college hospital in Haldwani where doctors declared Chauhan dead. Singh is being treated for his injury in the hospital. Meanwhile, the Kaladhungi police station in charge Shanti Kumar Gangwar said that police officers and personnel from various stations had been deputed to work on this crime. Police have checked scene of crime from where they found two motorcycles and one mobile phone. Forest department has submitted written complaint against Lakhwinder Singh and his three accomplices. All the accused will be nabbed soon by the police, said Gangwar.