Beltangady: Naxal Encounter - Local Hunters Being Made Scapegoats in Mane's Death?

Daijiworld Media Network – Beltangady (SP)

Beltangady, Oct 15: After early indications pointed out that constable of the Anti Naxal Force, Mahadeva S Mane, had succumbed to the bullet fired by one of his own colleagues and not by the Naxals as claimed by the policemen, there is an indication that clandestine efforts are being made to project the same as the handiwork of a team of hunters who were scouting for wild boars in the same region.

The investigation team and the locals have learnt that there was no Naxal presence in the region on the fateful day. As the policemen had sighted a team of local hunters on that day, it is said they are now trying to involve these hunters in an effort to wash their hands off this case, which is getting murkier by the day.

It is said that the team of hunters along with a dog, had visited Manjalkad forest when the policemen were combing the area. When a dog accompanying the team barked, perhaps sensing the presence of policemen, the policemen fired in that direction. The dog ran away, and the hunters beamed their torch lights at the police party. The policemen, believing them to be Naxals, started firing at them. The hunters escaped from the spot, it is learnt.

The policemen are now faced with the need to find an answer to the prospective query as to why they fired from their guns without any reasons or provocation. It is gathered that towards making some hunters scapegoats to save themselves, the policemen have taken them to Mangalore in the guise of questioning. There are apprehensions that the policemen might succeed in fixing them in the case.

The fact that none of the bullets hit the hunters may put question marks on the firing capability of the policemen at that point of time. In normal course, ambushes are executed by lying down. In this case, a bullet pierced through the back of Mane. It is clear that a police bullet hit Mane, but the other bullets failed to reach their targets.

Finding of empty whiskey bottles and other items at the spot point out to the possibility that the police personnel were drunk at the time. While some analyze that the firing incident was the result of a drunken altercation among the personnel of the police contingent, some others say that the policemen fired at the trees and other things there after Mane died, to prove that they had sighted Naxals, and that exchange of fire had indeed taken place.