Police, forest dept officials in Chhattisgarh shoot bear which mauled three to death, activist condemns act

Raipur: Social activist Kunal Shukla on Sunday condemned the police and the forest department officials for shooting dead a bear, which mauled three people to death in Mahasamund district of Chhattisgarh yesterday.

He dubbed the act as 'cruel' and threatened to file a complaint unless administration takes firm action in this regard.

"We condemn the cruel act of Chhattisgarh police and forest police. If the administration doesn't take any action against it then we are going to register a complaint against it in forest department," Shukla said.

"They could have filed tranquilizers. There was no need of firing so many bullets on it. They used automatic guns and fired around 60-100 bullets on it. 10-15 police personnel kept firing at it," he added.

Shatrughan and Dhansingh, both residents of Navgaon village, had gone to the forest during the wee hours to collect Mahua, when they were attacked and eventually killed by a wild bear.

Later, when the forest officials reached the spot looking for the bear, it attacked them and deputy ranger of forests, D Sahil, was killed.

According to reports, when the villagers threw stones in the hope of scaring the animal away, it charged them, scaring them away.

Finally, a joint team of police and forest officials shot the animal dead.