Varanasi: Following a violent dispute over grazing animals, a forest department watcher shot an arrow at a villager in the Rajpur area under Shahganj police station in Sonbhadra district on Friday evening. The villager died, while the watcher was admitted to hospital.
Sonbhadra ASP Tribhuvan Nath Tripathi said on Saturday that forest department watcher Sukkhan Baiga attacked livestock owner Banwari Pal (55) with an arrow in a dispute over grazing after an altercation with him. Pal died on the spot, while the injured Baiga was rushed to district hospital. Noticing a deterioration in his health condition, doctors referred him to trauma centre of BHU in Varanasi. He added that the matter was being investigated after sending the body for postmortem, while a police team was deployed in the village as a precautionary measure.
During initial investigation, it came to light that on Friday evening, Pal was feeding his buffaloes near Hadahadwa Hill, adjacent to Mahuaria Daak Bungalow. Baiga reached there and asked Pal to take away the cattle. This led to a clash between him and Pal, in which, Baiga shot an arrow that hit Pal's chest. Sukhan sustained serious injuries too in the fight.
Shahganj station officer Vandana Singh said a case was registered based on a complaint by Pal's son, Jai Prakash and action was being taken.