The Principal Sessions Court in Tirupati on Wednesday sentenced three red sanders smuggling operatives from Tamil Nadu to 11 years of imprisonment and ordered them to pay a fine of ₹6 lakh each after finding them guilty of red sanders smuggling in a case on August 10, 2016.
Superintendent of Police (AP Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force) Ravi Shankar, addressing a press conference at Tirupati, said that three -- G. Ponnuswami (39) and G. Tirumalai (29) of Tiruvannamalai district; and C. Kumar (27) of Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu – ventured into the Karakambadi reserve forest beat of Seshachalam hills near Tirupati on August 10, 2016.
The Task Force personnel during their combing operation nabbed the trio and seized 1.9 tonnes of red sanders logs worth over ₹3 crore, which they had concealed among bushes. After arrest, the three were produced in the Tirupati court. The then Task Force Circle Inspector, Madhu Babu, took up investigation and filed chargesheets under various sections dealing with trespassing into reserve forests, smuggling of red sanders and illegal transportation of the stolen property.
After three years, the verdict in the case was pronounced by Principal Sessions Judge Edukondalu.
Two held
Meanwhile, the Chittoor rural police on Wednesday nabbed two red sanders smuggling operatives - K. Kandaswamy ( 47) and L. Andy (27) of Villipuram district of Tamil Nadu – and seized 22 ‘A Grade’ variety logs worth about ₹30 lakh and two SUVs used for the transportation at Murakambattu on the outskirts of Chittoor town.
Additional SP (Red Sanders Operation) K. Krishnarjuna Rao told the media here that acting on reliable information, Superintendent of Police Ch. Venkata Appala Naidu formed a special party with the rural police, which intercepted two SUVs from Tirupati when they were proceeding towards Bengaluru bypass road at Murakambattu junction. Two inmates of the vehicles were nabbed.