Narrow escape for forest dept officers as timber smugglers open fire in Haryana

Yamunanagar (Haryana), May 4 (PTI) A forest department team had a narrow escape when three timber smugglers opened fire on them here, an officer said on Sunday.
    The incident happened in Kalesar forest range near Pratapnagar in Yamunanagar district on Saturday night.
    Forest department inspector Sandeep Kumar said, "The smugglers were cutting khair trees in the forest area at night. When we reached the spot, they opened fire on us. We narrowly escaped the bullets and chased them, but they managed to flee."
    Kumar said the team has recovered a bullet shell, pieces of khair wood and saw blades from the spot, and a complaint has been lodged at the Pratapnagar police station.
    Forest guard Roshan Lal said the team reached the spot after receiving information about smugglers cutting khair trees, but when the officers intercepted them, the miscreants opened fire.
    "We tried to chase them but they managed to flee," Lal said.
    A police team inspected the spot on Sunday morning and recovered pieces of khair wood, bullet shells and slippers.
    A case have been registered and the matter is under investigation, they added.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)