Monday, Dec 09, 2002
Monday, Dec 09, 2002 |
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Kerala
By Our Staff Reporter
The incident had all the trappings of high drama as two smugglers died of electrocution, two others went missing and the seized teakwood was allegedly diverted to another village by forest staff which finally found its way into the hands of some persons, who make wooden furniture. This prompted the senior forest officials to launch a probe into the allegations against the flying squad personnel. The attempt of 11 alleged teakwood smugglers of Parimandal village in Mamda mandal of Adilabad district ended in tragedy when two members - Jadhav Balram and Dharmaram - were electrocuted after coming in contact with live wire in the agriculture fields near Savel village. The smugglers were fleeing on being chased by the flying squad personnel. Nine others, who ran in different directions but two persons identified as Jadhav Gangaram and Jadhav Easwar have been missing since that day. One among the escapee smuggler, Jadhav Vithal, alleged that he along with duo were caught by the forest officials. Vithal managed to flee ad reached his village. Interestingly, the two missing persons are yet to return to the village. The Nirmal MLA, A.Indrakaran Reddy and resident of Parimandal, represented to the police to know the whereabouts of the missing persons. They pointed the accusing finger at the forest officials alleging that the duo were in their custody, a charge strongly denied by forest staff. The Armoor DSP, Viswanatham, who enquired into the mysterious disappearance of the two tribals and death of two others, told The Hindu on Sunday that on November 28, 11 tribals led by one Jadhav Vithal, allegedly brought smuggled teakwood to Savel. The flying squad, which got a tipoff raided the village and seized the contraband. The smugglers on seeing the forest officials escaped from the scene but two of them were electrocuted in the agriculture field of a farmer, Chandranna, who put up fencing to scare away wild boars. A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder was booked against the ryot. The DSP said a complaint was lodged with the Balkonda police about the disappearance of two tribals. A case was registered against the forest staff. In the meantime, the seized contraband was reportedly kept in Renjarla village by the forest officials and subsequently shifted to Nizamabad forest depot. Eyebrows were raised when the teakwood was shifted to Renjarla village from Savel and then taken to Nizamabad. The issue took a turn when Jadhav Vithal, who escaped from the forest personnel, alleged that two tribals who were picked up along with him were in the custody of the forest officials. The forest officials when contacted by the police personnel denied the allegation. Even as the police are still on lookout for the missing persons, the incident took a different turn. Senior forest officials received information that some teakwood was still stored in Renjarla village. A team of forest officials which raided the place found 21 pieces of teakwood which was not accounted in the first raid. This gave rise to doubts that the flying squad personnel had allegedly sold it away. In fact, the officials had shown only 42 pieces of teakwood as recovery, allegedly avoiding the 21 pieces. When contacted, the Conservator of forests, A.K.Srivatsava, said the charge of abduction against the flying squad personnel was false. He questioned what purpose it would serve by kidnapping the smugglers. When queried about the alleged sale of the seized teakwood, Mr. Srivatsava said 42 pieces of teakwood was brought to Nizamabad and an Undetected Offence report was filed by the department. However, on information, forest department party which visited Renjarla, recovered 21 more pieces. The officials are probing this allegation, he said adding that the Divisional Forest Officer (Flying squad) and other officials would enquire into the allegations and submit a report in two days.
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