A joint team of the police and forest guards gunned down a rhino poacher in Assam’s Orang National Park (ONP) in a pre-dawn operation on Saturday.
One.303 rifle, a bag, an axe and five live cartridges were recovered from the site of the incident.
Forest officials said acting on intelligence inputs that a gang of poachers would make an attempt at the national park, a team of police and forest guards swooped down on the Bilpar forest camp area of the Park.
“The team encountered the poachers which led to an exchange of fire. During a search operation later, a poacher was found injured. He was rushed to a hospital, where the doctors declared him brought dead,” said a forest official.
The official said other members of the gang, managed to flee under the cover of thick jungle and darkness.
The body of the poacher has been sent to Mangaldai Civil Hospital for post-mortem examination.
The slain poacher was not indentified till the time of filing this report.