A team from the state Forest department visited the spot on Sunday. The forest officials claimed that blood marks were found inside the park but the carcasses of the two rare animals were not found. The members of the CPI (Maoists), along with the Sidhu-Kanhu Gana Militia and the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), attacked the deer park on Saturday night.

A mob of around 4,000 tribals led by the Maoists and the leaders of the militia opened fire indiscriminately at the deer and black buck enclosures and set the cages on fire. The mob assaulted the guards of the deer park and the beat officer.

The leaders of the militia and the PCAPA, however, denied that the animals were attacked by them. “We ransacked the deer park as all government establishments will be torched as part of our programme. But we did not attack the animals. It is a conspiracy against us. The CPM cadres want to defame us and they have spread this rumour against us,” said Sidhu Soren, Chief of Sidhu-Kanhu Gana Militia, the armed frontal organisation of the Maoists.

Lipika Roy, DFO, Jhargram said: “We are yet to find the carcasses of the two black bucks. But the officers have found blood stains inside the park.” “We are sure that the deer were shot. Either they ran away from the place after being injured or the attackers have taken the carcasses. The park has been torched completely,” she added.