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Kundapur: A midnight hunting trip turned tragic as a 28-year-old man was allegedly shot dead by his friends at Noojadi village of Kundapur taluk in Udupi district. The victim has been identified as Prabhakar Acharya, resident of Hadimane. He worked as a cellphone tower technician.

The incident came to light on Sunday morning after Nagaraj Poojari and Sundar Poojari surrendered before the Gangolli police stating they had accidentally killed Prabhakar during their hunting trip at Kasanakatte.

Five of them, including Santosh and Raju, neighbours of Nagaraj, had set out on the hunting trip forcing an unwilling Prabhakar to accompany them.

The police, as per the details given by the accused, found the body of Prabhakar at Kasanakatte with bullet wounds. Cops quoting the post-mortem report said there were six bullet injuries on the body.

A case of murder has been registered against all the four accused based on a complaint by Prabhakar’s brother Manjunatha Acharya. In his complaint, he said Prabhakar was murdered due to personal grudge and was forced by the accused to go with them on Saturday, though he knew nothing about hunting.

A top police official said: "It is still not clear whether the death was accidental or intentional. Investigations are on." According to police, the accused used a licensed weapon belonging to Babu Poojari, father of Sundar. All accused are in Kollur police custody.

Mystery surrounds the death of a 28-year-old person who was allegedly accidentally shot and killed by his friends during a midnight hunting trip at Noojadi Village of Kundapur taluk in Udupi District.

The deceased is Prabhakar Acharya, a resident of Hadimane, who was working as a mobile tower maintenance personnel for a cell phone company. The incident occurred late on Saturday night. Police said that on Sunday morning, the kin of Prabhakar lodged a missing complaint after he failed to return on Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, two persons Nagaraj Poojari and Sundar Poojari confessed before the Gangolli police stating that they had accidentally shot and killed Prabhakar while hunting at Kasanakatte. The area falls in between Gangolli and Kollur police stations. Five of them, including Santosh and Raju, neighbours of Nagaraj, had set out on the hunting trip forcing an unwilling Prabhakar to accompany them.

The police, as per the details given by the accused, found the body of Prabhakar at Kasanakatte with bullet wounds near the back on his left side of his lower stomach. Police said according to the post mortem report, there were six pellets inside the body.A case of murder has been registered against all four accused based on the complaint lodged by Prabhakar’s brother Manjunatha Acharya. He complained that Prabhakar was murdered due to a personal grudge and was forced by the accused to go with them at 8.30 pm on Saturday, though Prabhakar knew nothing about the sport.

A top police official said: It is still not clear whether it was accidental or intentional. We are conducting investigations to find out whether there were reasons which could have led to this act or it was a plain accident,’’ said the officer. The accused had used licenced Single Bore Muzzle Loading weapon belonging to Babu Poojari, father of Sundar.