A suspected rhino poacher was killed, while an alleged dacoit was injured in two police encounters in Assam's Golaghat and Cachar districts yesterday. Assam Police has been on high alert since the horn of an adult female rhinoceros went missing inside Kaziranga National Park on January 20.
District Superintendent of Police Sumeet Sharma told reporters that Golaghat police with a team of CRPF launched an operation after receiving information about people involved in the recent poaching of rhinos inside Kaziranga National Park. Around 3 am, some youths tried to flee the spot on seeing the search party and instead of listening to the police, they started firing. When the firing stopped, the security team searched the area and found one seriously injured person. While on the way to the hospital, he confessed to the police about his accomplices' involvement in the rhino poaching. Sharma said that he died before reaching the hospital.
It is worth stating that the Anti-poaching task team in Assam is going brutal in combating rhino poaching. A total of 33 people were killed and at least 69 injured in the police crackdown on allegedly trying to escape from custody or attack personnel since the BJP government led by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took power in May 2021.