Red sanders smuggler killed in encounter

Tirupati: A red-sanders smuggler was killed in an encounter with forest armed security personnel near Gollapalli forest area in Chittoor district on Friday night. The deceased red-sander smuggler was identified as Kamaraju (55) of Tiruvannamalai district in Tamil Nadu.

According to Tirupati Urban SP Abhishek Mohanthy, the encounter took place during combing operations by the forest officials. More than 30 smugglers were spotted along with red-sander logs. Forest security guards warned them to surrender. But smugglers pelted stones on forest officials. As the pelting of stones continued, the forest personnel, in self-defence, opened fire in the air first and later opened fire on the smugglers that resulted in the death of one smuggler.

In the encounter Kamraju (55) died on the spot near Gollapalli forest area, another smuggler was nabbed with injuries by the forest authorities. The other smugglers escaped from the spot into deep forest. Rajampeta division of Kadapa district forest officials took part in the combing operation. They have been searching for smugglers for the last two days in between Kadapa and Chittoor district forest area.

It may be noted that Red Sander Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) was not involved in the incident. Tirupati RDO Narasimhulu has conducted sevapanchanama as per NHRC rules. Police and forest higher officials have jointly visited the spot, sent the body for postmortem and informed the encounter details to AP DGP office.