A Day after the body of a rhino was found with bullet injuries in Jaldapara Wildlife Forest Reserve, Government Employees Federation demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident on Sunday.

The federation, with a large number of forest officials, demanded the resignation of the state forest minister and principal chief conservator of forest.

On Saturday, the rhino had crossed over the Torsha river from the reserve. Thereafter, the forest officials along with the villagers pelted stones and fired tranquilliser shots to drive the animal back to the reserve. The officials also employed elephants to drive the animal back but failed to do so. Finally, it fell in the river and died.

The carcass of another injured female rhino was also recovered from the forest. “A CBI inquiry should be conducted. How can an animal be found dead with a bullet injury in the restricted area?” said Sanjib Chatterjee, state secretary of the Federation.

Following the incident, the Forest department had conducted a postmortem on Saturday.

The department, however, dismissed allegations of negligence on the part of forest officials. “We are not aware whether it was a poacher who killed the rhino or not. But the bullet does not appear to have been fired by any forest official,” said a forest official. “The animal was already injured and the forest authorities tried to tranquillise and send the animal back to the forest,” added the official.