Overview
- Forest Department personnel say they fired in self-defence during an anti-poaching operation on August 15, killing three men and recovering two country-made guns and dozens of kilos of deer meat from the scene.
- A surviving witness, Joseph Mahima Das, released a video disputing the department’s account and the victims’ families say the men had gone into the forest for cattle, not to poach.
- In the days after the shooting, several anti-poaching camps were vandalised or blown up with suspected gelatin explosives and vehicles were attacked.
- Around 10 acres of forest in the Kollegal‑Shilubepura area were burned in a fire that officials suspect was set deliberately in retaliation for the August 15 encounter.
- A state magisterial inquiry report was expected on August 22 and the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission has taken up the case as forest staff report fear for their safety and authorities step up patrols while political leaders press rival probes.