"Kaanp Tanda villagers attacked the staffers of Sampurnanagar range with firearms, sharp-edged weapons and heavy sticks when a forest department team went there to plant saplings," Divisional Forest Officer (north) KK Pandey said, adding that "there was no provocation for the attack".
"The armed villagers grievously injured forest watcher Akhilesh Kumar Singh Sonu and forest guard Divan Singh Bora," Pandey said.
The DFO, however, said, "It is yet to be probed from whose firing the man was killed."
"The land belongs to the forest department, but some villagers were trying to grab it and even erected hutments," he said, adding that a thorough probe has been ordered and further action would be taken based on the report.