Two forest staff on night patrol shot in Boudh, critical

Two forest department employees sustained critical bullet injuries when unidentified miscreants opened fire at them during patrolling in Boudh district in the wee hours of Wednesday.

The injured officials have been identified as Nilachal Pradhan and Naba Kumar Sahu. While Nilachala was shot in his shoulder, Naba received bullet injuries on his back. They have been admitted to the Boudh district headquarters hospital in critical condition.

As per reports, a team of forest department employees were on patrolling duty in Baghiapada forest on Tuesday night. However, some unidentified miscreants opened fire at the team at Khaliapali Square leaving two of them seriously injured. The miscreants fled the spot immediately after the firing.

As per Boudh Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Debapriya Kampa, the incident happened around 1.30 am. He said further investigation into the incident is currently underway. 

“It is an unfortunate incident. Two of our staff have been injured in the firing. Both of them are currently undergoing treatment. While one of them is critical, the condition of the other employee has improved. An investigation into the incident is currently underway. Detailed information about the incident could be revealed following the completion of the investigation process,” said Kampa.

(Reported by Deepak Adar)