Karwar May 10: A forest officer, who was brutally attacked by a government employee and his friends and relatives at Dandeli of Uttar Kannada district on Sunday, died on Tuesday night.
Madan Naik (54), Assistant conservator of forests (ACF), who was posted in Dandeli, was allegedly assaulted by a government employee and his friends and relatives on Sunday afternoon, when he tried to stop the group from feeding crocodiles on the banks of the Kali River.
Arvind Chavan, an employee of the Dandeli City Municipal Council (CMC), was partying at a homestay with his companions at a nearby farm, spread across four acres. Bagalkot Sub -Inspector S R Naik, an assistant sub-inspector, a lady teacher and an assistant work engineer were said to be Chavan's companions.
Madan Naik, who was visiting the Dandelappa temple near the river along with his family, reportedly came across the partying group, who were said to be in an inebriated condition, feeding the reptiles.
He tried to dissuade them as feeding wild crocodiles is a violation of the Wildlife Protection Act. Angered by his intervention, the group allegedly attacked Naik and hit on his head with a huge rock. Naik's wife Sumathi, his son and two daughters who tried to come to his rescue, were also targeted by the group.
Naik was rushed to the Dharmasthala hospital in Dharwad, where he passed away at 11:30 pm on Tuesday. The last rites were performed at Belekeri in Ankola taluk on Wednesday.
A complaint has been registered at the Dandeli Rural police station against six people. Four – Anand Roopsingh Nayak, Suresh Sankrappa Nayak, Prashanth Rama Lamani and Arvind Chavan - have been arrested. Two others are absconding.
Forest Minister C P Yogeeshwara has ordered a CID probe into the incident.
On Wednesday evening, a mob set fire to one of the cottages of a homestay on the farm. Citizens staged a dharna in front of the Dandeli police station demanding that the accused including Sub-Inspector Naik be arrested.
The kidnapped schoolboy was rescued by the police and reunited with his parents. Son of a gift shop owner from Basavanagudi area in Bengaluru, Chirag has reportedly told police that decided to make some quick money to spend on cricket betting and gambling after learning kidnap tricks from the ‘Crime Patrol’. According to police, Chirag reached a private school around 3pm on Tuesday on a Bounce rental bike and zeroed in on a fourth standard student who was walking out of school. He told the boy he was his father's friend and that he required help to search for a relative who had gone missing. The boy believed Chirag and rode pillion on the bike. Chirag then engaged the boy in conversation and learnt about his father's business and got his mobile phone number. He then made a call to the boy's father, demanded Rs 5 lakh and warned him against approaching cops. However, the boy's father alerted Cottonpet police and special teams were formed to crack the case. While Cottonpet inspector Venkatesh TC's squad verified CCTV footage in and around the school, Chamarajpet inspector BG Kumaraswamy's team started tracking the suspect's mobile phone movements. An hour later, the suspect's location was traced to a hotel on the Lavelle Road-St Mark's Road stretch. Police rushed there, rescued the boy and arrested Chirag.
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