Palghar News: Hunting Trip Turns Fatal As Man Shot Dead By Friends After Being Mistaken For Wild Boar

In a tragic incident that took place in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, a group of villagers mistakenly shot one of their friends, thinking he was a wild boar. According to the local police, the incident took place on the night of January 28 in a forested area. The man died of bullet injury while another person sustained injury in the incident. 

According to reports, the other injured man later succumbed to his wounds during treatment, and his body was cremated by the villagers without informing the police. Abhijit Dharashivkar, the Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Palghar, said that a group of villagers had entered the Borsheti forest area in Manor, located within the district, with the intent of hunting wild boars.

"During the expedition, some villagers got separated from the group. After some time, one of the hunters mistook them for wild boars and opened fire, hitting two villagers. One of them died on the spot, while the other sustained serious injuries," Dharashivkar said. 

The incident remained unrevealed for several days until the victim’s wife filed a missing-person report with the police on Monday, prompting the arrest of eight individuals, as reported by The Indian Express. According to an officer, authorities are still searching for others who are currently on the run.

In another incident that took place in January, a wild leopard entered the safari of the Statue of Unity (SoU) complex in Gujarat's Narmada district, killing a blackbuck and causing the deaths of seven others from shock, forest department officials said on Saturday. 

The incident occurred within Sardar Patel Zoological Park in Ekta Nagar, prompting heightened vigilance by the Forest Department. The leopard, aged between two and three years, sneaked into the park on the night of January 2, officials said.CCTV footage showed the leopard roaming Canal Road before leaping over a wall into the herbivore enclosure. A zoo keeper spotted the big cat sitting beside the carcass of a deer.