Chamarajanagar: The Karnataka and Tamil Nadu police have launched a joint operation to recover the firearms stolen from the Karnataka forest department office on Sunday October 26, after the recent Palar checkpost protest.
On October 24, a few protestors had stolen two riffles and three pistols from the forest department office. The villagers were agitating on the issue when the body of poacher Palani was found in a decomposed state.
While some of the villagers handed over a rifle to the Tamil Nadu police on Saturday night, the police are still in search of the other weapons along the river beds of Cauvery backwaters and Palar, were the riots took place.
Male Mahadeshwara Hills police, who have registered a case of rioting and theft against 50 unknown people, have asked the Kolathur police to search villages in Tamil Nadu for stolen firearms and hand them back to the state forest department.
Marisibba Shetty, CPI, MM Hills police station informed that the Kolathur police station inspector Manohar has been directed to conduct raids in Cauverypuram, Govindapaadi, Karekaddu and other surrounding villages for the stolen firearms and elephant ivory.
Salem SP R. Sakthivel said one rifle was recovered, but the forest department was yet to confirm whether it was a stolen firearm. He said the situation on the border has eased and vehicles have started plying. However, the public transport is yet to be resumed.
So far, the MM Hills police have not made any arrests for the attack on the Palar checkpost, though investigation is going on.
It may be recalled that an unruly mob of over 2,000 people from Palar in Chamarajanagar district engaged in violence on Friday after a missing poacher’s body surfaced near the banks of the river Cauvery in a highly decomposed state.
The villagers were protesting against the killing of Palani (42), a native of Govindapadi village near Mettur, who they said was not a notorious poacher as claimed by Karnataka forest officials. They also allege that Palani was caught by Karnataka forest staff and was ‘inhumanly’ tortured.
