A body was found floating in River Kaveri, on the borders of the taluk on Friday morning. The Forest Department personnel suspect that it is a poacher's body.
A gang of four poachers, from Tamil Nadu, had entered the forest via River Kaveri and they were allegedly hunting a deer at the Adipalar area under the Gopinatham range of Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary on Tuesday night.
When the Forest Department personnel spotted them, the gang opened fire at them and escaped abandoning a coracle and one country rifle. The Forest department personnel seized a battery, nets and two carcasses of deer. As they were possessing weapons, the case was handed over to Mahadeshwara Hill Police Station, according to Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary Deputy Conservator of Forest Nandeesh.
The body of a man was found in the Kaveri River, under Tamil Nadu limits, on Friday. The man has been identified as Raja of Govindapadi village. It is suspected that he was one of the poachers who escaped.
The Forest department personnel said that they are collecting information on whether the man died of drowning or due to bullet injuries.