Bengaluru

Chikkamagaluru

Bhadra Tiger Reserve

Richmond Town

Karnataka Forest Department

Karnataka State Rifle Association

Thanigebailu Range of Bhadra Wildlife Division

Ullas

Rafeeq Ahmed

Museum Road

Serpentine Road

Austin

Hassan

Mysuru

Mir Mudassir Ali

Mohammed Samir

Infosys

Syed Ahemed

Bhadra

Mohammad Sameer

gold

Kemmannu Gundi

The New Year outing for a group of youngsters, including professionals from reputed software firms from, inhas turned out to be a disaster after they were nabbed red-handed by forest officials hunting a sambar deer inside theThe accused include two engineers with a Bengaluru-based tech major and an MTech graduate in environmental scienceThe 12-member team, assisted by locals, were on a hunting spree with their licensed rifle and had shot two sambar deer and were on their way back to Bengaluru with the meat to host New Year party.Their love for shooting and ‘wild meat’ has now landed them in jail with officials booking them under various sections of the Indian Wildlife Act (Protection) 1972.Interestingly the accused include two software engineers working with globally reputed Bengaluru-based software firm, an M Tech graduate in environmental science, residents of upmarket, according to officials of the(KFD).Sources in the KFD revealed to BM that half of the accused were trained in shooting and have won several awards in shooting competitions conducted by, Bengaluru. All of them were caught red-handed inin Chikkamagaluru district.Speaking to Bangalore Mirror,, Range Forest Officer of Thanigebailu Range said, “Out of the 12, 11 have been arrested while the main accusedis absconding and search is on.Majority of the accused are residents ofin Richmond Town andinTown, Bengaluru. They were joined by relatives and friends fromandwhile they were assisted by locals in the forest.andhave revealed that they are the employees ofwhilehas claimed to be an M Tech graduate in Environmental Science.”Acting on a tip-off that youngsters’ team from Bengaluru will hit forest areas offor New Year party, the KFD forests were vigilant and had no clue that they would nab such a huge team with trained shooters!“It was a shock for all of us. They had gun licenses with them and, a trained sharp shooter andmedallist has shot both the animals. While they had chopped one deer and dressed, the carcass of the other deer was being carried in a jeep when they are nabbed by our team neargate,” explained yet another officer.Ullas further explained, “They had cut the female deer into pieces and dressed it for transportation. As it was getting bright during the wee hours, they thought of moving out of forest first and then finish with the meat dressing at a nearby place.“They wanted to take back the meat to Bengaluru for New Year party with friends. While the female deer weighed 70 kgs, the male deer weighed about 200 kgs.Vehicles, guns and other equipment used in hunting have been seized and all of them were taking part in the hunting for the first time.”All the accused were presented before the magistrate and handed over to judicial custody. All of them have been booked under various sections of the Indian Wildlife Act (Protection) 1972 and investigation is on.