NEW DELHI: A hunting expedition in Maharashtra’s Palghar district ended in death when a villager was mistakenly shot by fellow hunters who allegedly mistook him for a wild boar.
The incident occurred on the night of January 28 in the Borsheti forest area at Manor.
According to police, a group of villagers had ventured into the forest to hunt wild boars when some members of the group got separated.
In the ensuing confusion, one of the hunters opened fire, hitting two villagers. One died instantly, while the other sustained serious injuries.
In panic, the group hid the deceased’s body in the bushes instead of reporting the incident to the authorities. The police were alerted after a tip-off and began an investigation, detaining six villagers suspected of being involved.
On Wednesday, after an extensive search, the police recovered the victim’s highly decomposed body and sent it for a postmortem to determine the exact cause of death.
Reports suggest that the injured villager may have died during treatment and was cremated by the group without informing authorities. The police are investigating this further and have registered an FIR against the accused.
