Karnataka forest killing revives memories of chilling gunning down of 20 Tamil Nadu woodcutters in Andhra Pradesh

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Family members of one of the Seshachalam encounter victims mourn his death at Murugapadi village in Tiruvannamalai district on on April 8, 2015 | Photo Credit: C. Venkatachalapathy

The killing of three Tamil-speaking men by Karnataka foresters on Saturday (August 15, 2026) following an alleged exchange of fire and suspected poaching activity has revived memories of a chilling forest massacre that shook the country 11 years ago .

On April 7, 2015, the newly-formed Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Taskforce in Andhra Pradesh gunned down as many as 20 woodcutters hailing from Tamil Nadu in the Seshachalam forest area at the foot of the Tirumala Hills. The Hindu report described it as “the bloodiest incident in the history of the decades-old menace of red sanders smuggling.”

As per the claim of the Taskforce, which comprised of Police and Forest Department personnel, a combing operation was being carried out near Srinivasa Mangapuram, Srivarimettu, and Eethagunta on the Seshachalam hill ranges. Spotting footprints, one Taskforce group moved towards Eethagunta, and another towards Cheekateegalakona. On finding over 100 woodcutters felling trees and carrying logs, the personnel asked them to surrender. However, the woodcutters rained stones and hurled sickles at the team, injuring some of them.

The scene of the encounter at Eethakunta locality of Seshachalam hills near Tirupati on April 7, 2015 | Photo Credit: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar

“When they started attacking us, we fired random shots in self-defence,” a Taskforce member was quoted as saying. In no time, 20 woodcutters from Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram and Vellore – all working for wages – fell dead.

Just three days before the encounter, Deputy Inspector General of Police M. Kantha Rao, the head of the Taskforce, had sought permission from the State government to open fire at those illegally entering the forest. “While the intention apparently was to prevent outsiders from plundering forest wealth, the timing of the encounter has raised eyebrows even in government circles,” wrote the Frontline , a sister publication of The Hindu .

The bloodshed triggered widespread outrage and also fear. According to a report in the Frontline , amid fears that they could be “marked” and harassed in the name of investigation, several relatives of the slain men initially stayed away, and only seven bodies were claimed by relatives.

Armed policemen stand guard in front of a mortuary in Tirupati on April 8, 2015, where the post-mortem of the 20 woodcutters was performed | Photo Credit: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu briefed the then Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan over phone about the ‘encounter’.

The AIADMK was in power in Tamil Nadu then, and O. Panneerselvam was holding the fort as Chief Minister following the conviction of his predecessor J. Jayalalithaa in a corruption case in September 2014. While almost all political parties reacted sharply to the incident, Jayalalithaa broke her silence only a day later.