DCF, central Chanda forest division, Gajendra Hire claimed that department had a tip-off about the gang of poachers hunting in the forest with guns. Accordingly, search operations were launched with the help of Ballarpur police. The search party heard a gun shot during midnight in Junona forest and started tracking the poachers in that direction.

"There were apparently two groups of poachers. A group comprising three poachers managed to flee in dark, but our team tracked two poachers fleeing on a bike. While foresters were hot in their pursuit on Junona-Babupeth road, the poachers accidentally rammed their speeding bike into a sambar that was crossing the road," said Hire.

The poachers, who fell off the bike and sustained injuries, were apprehended by the forest team. Officials seized a manually loading gun, a search light, axe, knife and a battery powered sound set-up used for hunting herbivores from their possession. The search into the forest revealed that the sambar, hit by the poachers' bike, died after moving a few metres in the forest.

Accused poachers, identified as Santosh Singh Tak and Ramesh Budkawar, were produced before Ballarpur court on Sunday and the magistrate sent the duo to two days' forest custody remand. Officials have witness who had seen the same poachers carrying a poached deer a couple of days back in Junona forest.

"Accused Budkawar has a chicken shop in Babupeth locality in Chandrapur. We suspect that he used to take orders for meat of wild herbivores from select customers and poaching was carried out to meet the demand. The other gang of poachers too appears to be linked with accused duo. They too would be rounded up as the investigations progresses," Hire said.