Forest personnel and the hunters with the carcass of the deer. Telegraph picture

Jorhat, Feb. 26: They had come to hunt rats and save crops but when a deer suddenly appeared, they could not control themselves and let their arrows fly, killing it.

Forest department officials yesterday apprehended a group of hunters which had killed a hog deer on the periphery of Orang National Park.

Six bows and 11 arrows were recovered from the group, comprising eight Santhali tribesmen hailing from number 1 Bergaon village under Udalguri police station in Udalguri district.

They were produced before a magistrate at Mangaldoi today and have been remanded in judicial custody.

Bergaon village is nearly 50km from the national park and the group had arrived at the park a day earlier.

They were camping there.

The hunters — Piyush Murmu, Asman Murmu, Gabriel Besra, Subhan Mard, Malaki Besra, Arjun Besra, Ilias Murmu and Arnesh Murmu — revealed during interrogation that they were actually hired by people of a village on the periphery of the national park and it was the first time they had killed a deer.

“We are frequently hired by villages near the national park to hunt rats and mongoose which cause extensive damage to crops. The villagers provide us food and shelter and we hunt rats and other rodents to help save the crops,” one of the hunters said in his interrogation statement.

The group was hunting in a paddy field on the periphery of the national park when the deer suddenly appeared in the area. “We got carried away and killed the deer,” the hunter said.

Divisional forest officer of Orang National Park Sushil K. Daila said rat meat was a delicacy among Santhali tribesmen and groups of hunters from the village set out every year during harvest season to kill the animal.

Daila, however, said killing of wildlife was a serious crime and the group of tribal hunters would be arrested and law would take its own course.

Hog deer is a Schedule III species under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and Section 51 of the act.

It prescribes a penalty of imprisonment of up to 3 years and/or a fine up to Rs 25,000 for hunting outside any national park or wildlife sanctuary. If it is hunted inside a national park or wildlife sanctuary, the penalty is stricter — imprisonment of minimum 3 years which may extend to 7 years and a fine of minimum Rs 10,000.

A team of veterinary doctors conducted a post-mortem on the deer carcass today, which confirmed the cause of death as injuries perpetrated by sharp object/arrows used by the hunters.