Guwahati: A 50-year-old tribal man was injured when forest guards opened fire suspecting him to be a timber smuggler at Manas National Park (MNP) in Lower Assam’s Baksa district.
Locals said forest personnel opened fire at Nirmal Basumatary when he had gone to the Batabari forest range of Manas National Park along the Indo-Bhutan border to collect firewood.
A critically injured Basumatray was taken to a local hospital at Salbari and after the initial treatment, he was rushed to Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH), said an official.
Currently, his condition is stated to be stable.
Following the incident, a team of police reached the spot and started an investigation into the incident.
The incident has sparked strong resentment among the villagers of the area as villagers often collect wood from the forest.
Earlier in November, a 40-year-old woodcutter was killed and another one injured when forest guards opened fire on them in the Khalingduar Reserve Forest in Assam’s Udalguri district.
A routine patrolling team of forest officials noticed a group of persons suspected to be timber smugglers in the forest and fired two rounds resulting in the death of a woodcutter.