Chikkamagaluru: Praveen, a farmer from Koove village in Mudigere taluk in Chikkamagaluru, allegedly attacked forester Chandan Gowda during an eviction drive. Koove village is deep in the forest in Mudigere range. There are thousands of acres of forest that have been encroached upon by coffee planters and farmers.
As a part of the eviction drive, the forest department asked the forester of Koove village, Chandan Gowda, to demolish a temporary house built within the forest land. Chandan Gowda alerted the encroacher and house owner Praveen earlier regarding this directive, and asked him to remove the house. Some villagers supported Praveen in this matter and said that he had a right to stay on the land, as it comes under revenue land.
Chandan Gowda teamed up with forest guards and watchers and started demolishing the house on Wednesday. Praveen’s family members and villagers then rushed the spot and argued for an hour. When the forest staff removed the bamboo from the roof of the house, Praveen took the bamboo and allegedly thrashed Chandan. However, the forest department kept quiet regarding the incident. When a video of the incident went viral, Chandan Gowda filed a complaint against Praveen at Baluru station. Police booked Praveen and are on the lookout for him.
Praveen’s family members say that they built the house on revenue land belonging to the village. They said that the forest department’s GPS survey is wrong. Speaking to the media Chandan Gowda said that the land comes within the forest range, and that the house was built recently by felling trees.