Anakapalle police blame loaded country-made gun for teen’s fatal injury, poacher identified

Visakhapatnam: A day after the suspicious death of 13-year-old Class VI student A Kaushik, the Anakapalle district police on Monday concluded that he died after a country-made gun went off accidentally while he and his friends were playing with the loaded weapon in Etikoppaka under Yelamanchili mandal on Sunday.Police, led by Yelamanchili inspector S Dhanunjaya Rao, identified a poacher who had kept the loaded country-made firearm at the location and was responsible for Kaushik's death. The boy was found dead with an injury to his chest at Etikoppaka on Sunday afternoon. Locals initially alleged that he died when a country-made gun went off during a hunting expedition by poachers.A preliminary post-mortem conducted on Monday revealed that pellets pierced the armpit area of the boy, causing instantaneous death. Police said that despite arrests of poachers and seizures of illegal firearms, some people in parts of Anakapalle continued their illegal hunting activities. Poachers used locally made muzzle-loading guns designed for wildlife hunting, with ammunition made using gunpowder, metal balls and other chemicals. When fired, the guns spray pellets into the bodies of wild animals, killing them on the spot.The investigation revealed that Kaushik and his friends had gone to a canal on the outskirts of Etikoppaka on Sunday for a bath and to play. While there, one of the boys found his father's illegal firearm and took it out."While they were playing with the firearm, it accidentally went off, causing Kaushik's death," Dhanunjaya Rao said. Police said a case has been registered under relevant sections of the BNS and the Arms Act, and they will arrest those responsible for possessing the illegal firearm and causing the boy's death.Meanwhile, Anakapalle district police chief Tuhin Sinha warned that stringent action would be taken against those using illegal firearms. He said that even those holding licensed weapons must not fire them in the air or hand them over to others."We have decided to invoke various sections of the Arms Act against those using illegal firearms. Though some poachers claim they are using them for livelihood hunting, such claims will not stand before the law," police added.