Rayagada: Police on Thursday detained 18 poachers after they allegedly shot dead a youth, mistaking him for a wild boar, inside a forest near Khaliajodi village of Kashipur block in Rayagada district late on Tuesday.
Briefing the media, Rayagada SP Sarvana Vivek M said that some youths of the village had gone to the forest to hunt wild boar. They opened fire after hearing a sound. However, the bullets hit Khageswar Jhadia, a youth of the village, who died on the spot.
To hush up the incident, the youths went to the village and gave some money to the family members of the deceased. Later, they took the body for cremation.
In the meantime, Andirakanch police got whiff of the incident and rushed to the village. They seized the half-burnt body and sent it for postmortem.
Police later detained 18 youths for interrogation.
