Hunter becomes the hunted: 18 arrested in Odisha; charred body recovered

Rayagada: A poaching bid turned fatal for a hunter after an ‘accidental’ shot from his associate’s gun hit him in the head.

The incident occurred in Andirakanch police station area under Kashipur block in Rayagada district on Tuesday.

The deceased has been identified as Khageswar Jhodia, a resident of Kaliajodi village in the district.

Police recovered charred body of the deceased and arrested as many as 18 persons involved in alleged murder case, police informed today.

According to reports, around 20 people of Kanchaguma and Kaliajodi villages under Andirakanch police limits had conducted an operation on September 22 to kill a wild boar that had been destroying crops in a past few days in the area. Khageswar was also part of the team in search of wild boar.

Source said that during search of wild boar, a bullet accidentally fired from one of his associate’s gun directly hit his head and he died instantly. Fearing arrest, all the youth associated with him in the wild boar hunting mission, allegedly disposed the body off hurriedly in consultation with other villagers by burning to hide incident.

Yesterday, the deceased youth’s father Shukru Jhodia reported a missing complaint mentioning that his son had left home on Tuesday and did not return till next morning.

He approached the police after he came to know about his son’s death and processing for burning the body.

On receiving information, the Andirakanch police immediately rushed to the spot and recovered the half-burnt body from the burial ground near Kaliajodi village. A country-made SBBL gun has also been seized.

The body has been sent to the Kashipur CHC for post-mortem. The police also collected clue materials like blood stained earth, sample earth and ashes from the spot.

IIC Andirakanch and his team arrested all 18 accused persons involved in the crime within 24 hours of reporting of the incident, said the Rayagada police today.

All the accused persons have been booked under sections 302/201/34 of IPC r/w section 25/27 Arms Act.