Four forest officials arrested for felling trees, as many booked

COIMBATORE: Four forest department officials were arrested and four others were booked on Saturday for allegedly cutting off 370 trees on the campus of ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation (ICAR-IISWC) at Udhagamandalam in Nilgiris district. 

The five accused were identified as N Naveen Kumar (35) Range officer of Ooty south range, N Babu (43) forest guard, Sasi (forester), R Devendran (36) (anti-poaching watcher), and M Nagarajan (32) a field staff employed by the institute. ICAR-IISWC is situated at Theetukkal adjoining the reserve forest boundary managed by the state forest department. The campus’ land is on lease from the department.

According to the sources, a few months back, the forest officials asked the institute to remove some wind-fallen trees. The authorities allowed them to remove the trees by adhering to proper norms. However, the official, who gave the permission, went on a long leave. During his absence, the forest staff allegedly chopped off 370 trees from the reserve forest area, causing a loss of Rs 49 lakh to the Forest Department. Recently,  the issue came to light and it was reported at Ooty rural police station.

Following this, the Forest Department conducted an investigation and arrested the suspects on Saturday.  A senior scientist as well as an office staff of the institute have also been implicated in the theft of the trees. Officials said that a case has been registered and that investigation into their role is ongoing.