Daijiworld Media Network - Beltangady (SP)

Beltangady, Jan 12: Deputy range forest officer, KB Uday Kumar, attached to forest department's Venoor division, has been suspended from service with immediate effect. He has been charged with having regular contact with timber smugglers and getting involved with the theft of trees.

Trees standing in the government land and reserve forest within Hosangady gram panchayat limits were being regularly stolen. Based on complaints, Venoor range forest officer and officials of the mobile squad had impounded three trucks and a Hitachi machine in different incidents. In all these cases, there was strong suspicion about the involvement of deputy range forest officer, KB Uday Kumar.

Because of this, Uday Kumar was suspended from government services by Mangaluru chief forest conservator, Natalkar. An inquiry has been ordered against him. It is learnt that the thieves used to steal valuable trees like Malabar ironwood, mango, and other trees which were converted into logs and transported in trucks. They used to place rubber tree logs over the valuable trees to escape from officials of the department at check posts. The forest officials found out the mischief and caught hold of the offenders.