Youth’s Body With Bullet Injuries In Odisha’s Similipal Forest Sparks Tension

Baripada: Tension prevailed in a village near Similipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district after the body of a youth with bullet injuries were found on Thursday.

As per reports, the youth, identified as Jagannath Hembram of Burudi village in Talabandha forest range under Bangiriposi police station, had gone in search of his cow on Wednesday. But he did not return home.

On Thursday, Jagannath’s family members along with villagers went in search of him and found his body with bullet marks inside Similipal forest.

They alleged that Jagannath was killed by Forest personnel during an encounter with poachers in the reserve forest. The Forest department refuted the allegation terming it as ‘baseless’.

As tension spread in the village and nearby places, two platoons of police were deployed to prevent any untoward incident.