MITHI, Jan 18: The speaker of the Singh Assembly and two MPAs are reported to have defied the ban on hunting by killing a deer of a rare specie in Nagarparkar area on Sunday

Speaker Nisar Khuhro and MPAs Taimur Talpur and Sharjil Inam Memon under the patronage of police and local waderas reached near Tejmal Ji Veri village of Nagarparkar taluka in a caravan of 11 vehicles on Sunday night and hunted deer, said residents of the village.

Chandan Singh, Sardar Singh and Bhoj Raj told journalists that they reached at the site of deer shooting on horses on hearing the gunshots. They told the hunting party to desist from shooting as the place was a game sanctuary. Instead, one of the MPAs threatened the villagers of dire consequences if they dared to stop the party from shooting, alleged the villagers.

Meanwhile, villagers tried to contact the local game officials and police but their cell phones were not responding.

Villagers identified policemen Ayoob Nohri and Amin Nohir of guiding the hunting party and added that the killed deer was taken to the guest house (autaq) of a local landlord where it was consumed after cooking.

Honorary District Game Warden Tilok Chand when asked by this correspondent said that he was in Karachi and would reach Thar soon, but meanwhile he was sending an official, Ashfaq Memon, to Nagarparkar to probe the matter.

This correspondent despite repeated efforts failed in contacting area game wardens and Mr Memon as none attended the phone call. The District Game Warden's office was also locked from outside and no one was available there when this scribe visited it on Tuesday noon. Dawn

Sardar Singh told that Mr Memon had arrived in Nagarparkar and was off to the village where the influential hunters had stayed.