Forest conservator and prominent media person to sabotage tree felling case

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is learnt that a forest conservator and a media person, who is in charge of a prominent channel in Kozhikode, have made moves to sabotage the Muttil tree felling case by fabricating a fake case.

When the accused Roji Augustine was about to be arrested after the fraud in the pass that was used to smuggle timber to Perumbavoor was discovered, an attempt was made to sabotage the original case by fabricating a false case in the tree felling that took place at Manikkunnu Mala in Wayanad. Later, it was learnt that the land in Manikkunnu Mala was not under the jurisdiction of the Forest Department.

The media person, who attempted to save the culprits in the Muttil case, broke the news on his channel that the tree felling in Manikkunnu was illegal. The withdrawal of the news by the channel was also discussed in the forest department.

Roji Augustine and Anto Augustine had submitted applications of 14 farmers to the range officer from the Revenue department in connection with the Muttil tree felling. The range officer did not take any further action despite the great pressure due to suspicion in the applications. An inspection by new range officer Sameer, who replaced the previous range officer in January, found that the trees were on the assigned land. Still, the revenue authorities did not have any proper records. There was also pressure on the DFO for permission. The DFO withdrew from giving permission after news broke in the local media. Forest vigilance also intervened in the matter.

The accused, who received information that the government had the controversial order, smuggled 14 cubic meters of timber in two loads using a fake Form-4 pass. The timber, smuggled without the range officer's certificate, was taken to Malabar Timbers. The mill owner, realizing that the Forest Department's squad was following, asked Roji, the timber owner, for a certificate. When the mill owner found out that there was no certificate, he secretly informed the CCF in an e-mail following which the range officer seized the timber. The accused then put pressure on the range officer to record that the timber belonged to a private individual.

However, the probe team registered a strong case under the Forest Act. Soon, the forest conservator dramatically intervened and tried to sabotage the case. He fabricated the fake case in the name of the tree felling in Manikkunnu Mala as a part of this attempt. The Muttil case was strengthened due to the efforts of honest forest officials who were helped by the Wayanad Collector.