Six men assault forest officer for interrupting drinking session

Six men were caught on camera assaulting a forest officer at Sunnipenta in the Nallamalla Tiger Reserve on Tuesday. The accused, were on their way to Srisailam from Hyderabad to have a darshan of the presiding deity at the town's Mallikarjuna Temple.

In the video, the six of them can be seen repeatedly slapping the forest officer, Jyothi Swaroop who stopped their vehicle as they were drinking alcohol in the forest area and creating a ruckus near the road.

The accused even demanded the officer touch their feet as he interrupted them. The forest officer managed to escape and later approached the police to file a formal complaint.

The forest officer later spoke to the media stating that he saw an SUV with six people consuming alcohol during his patrolling duty and approached them to not drink in a reserve forest area. However, he was threatened before getting assaulted.

Five of them have been detained by the police while one of them is said to be absconding.

A case has been registered under Sections Sections 323 (Voluntarily causing hurt), 342 (Wrongful confinement), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 506 (Criminal intimidation) of the IPC.