Bhubaneswar: Four persons, including two employees of the Forest Department, were arrested on charges of hunting a deer and consuming its meat at Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary in Odisha’s Angul district.

The arrested have been identified as Kulamani Nayak (34), Sibaprasad Nayak (21) and Jogendra Paikara (65) of Ramimunda and Pratap Dehury (46) of Majhipada in Angul.

The Forest Department had deployed Kulamani and Pratap as watchers in Tikarapara range of Satkosia to check poaching of wild animals.

As per reports, the four persons had hunted a deer last night and cooked its meat at camp of the Forest Department in the sanctuary.

On a tip-off, a team of the Forest Department, led by Tikarapara range officer Sumanta Mahakud, conducted a raid and arrested the four accused. The officials also seized deer meat and other body parts from the camp. 

During interrogation, the four accused confessed that they had hunted the deer and consumed its meat. “The accused persons hunted the deer by using trained dogs,” said an official of the Forest Department.