A 50-year-old man was injured when forest guards opened fire suspecting him to be a timber smuggler at Manas National Park in Baksa district. The injured person have been identified as Nirmal Basumatary.
According to reports, the forest personnel opened fire at Nirmal when he went to collect firewood at the Batabari forest range. Nirmal was critically injured during the firing and was immediately rushed to Guwahati Medical College Hospital for further treatment.
The incident among the villagers and they rebelled against forest officials. Following the incident, a team of police reached the spot and started an investigation.
Earlier in November, 2022, The forest officials of Nonai Forest Range in Udalguri district shot two suspected woodcutters deep inside Khalingduar Reserve Forest at about 1 pm on Wednesday.
According to reports, a routine patrolling team of forest officials witnessed a group of persons suspected to be woodcutters in the forest and two rounds were fired in the air by the forest officials following which the woodcutters fled.
Reportedly, Ram Singh Gorh, a permanent employee of Nonaipara TE succumbed to bullet injuries in the incident while Sukra Bakhla sustained severe bullet injury in his buttock and was referred to GMCH in Guwahati.