Five persons, including the Nilgiris South Forest Ranger Naveen, have been arrested in connection with the illegal felling of 370 trees from the campus of ICAR- Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation near Ooty.
The Nilgiris: ICAR- Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation is functioning at Theettukal near Ooty in the Nilgiris district.
The centre has been functioning since 1955 on leased forest department lands of about 200 acres.
There are thousands of exotic varieties of trees in the campus including hundreds of eucalyptus trees.
As many as 370 trees within the research centre premises were cut down and sold a few months ago in a clandestine manner.
Kannan, a senior scientist at the Research Centre, recently lodged a complaint with the Nilgiris District forest officer and Superintendent of police on the illegal felling of trees.
DSP Vijayalakshmi, who conducted the investigation, confirmed that the trees have been illegally cut down. Subsequently, cases were registered under three sections, including theft of trees, abetment to conspiracy and cheating against Nilgiris South Forest Ranger Naveen, Forest Officer Sasidharan, Forest Guard Babu, Anti-Poaching Guard Devendran and a temporary employee of the research centre Nagaraj.
Following this, all of them were arrested on Saturday and produced before the magistrate and remanded in custody.
The centre has been functioning since 1955 on leased forest department lands of about 200 acres.
There are thousands of exotic varieties of trees in the campus including hundreds of eucalyptus trees.
As many as 370 trees within the research centre premises were cut down and sold a few months ago in a clandestine manner.
Kannan, a senior scientist at the Research Centre, recently lodged a complaint with the Nilgiris District forest officer and Superintendent of police on the illegal felling of trees.
DSP Vijayalakshmi, who conducted the investigation, confirmed that the trees have been illegally cut down. Subsequently, cases were registered under three sections, including theft of trees, abetment to conspiracy and cheating against Nilgiris South Forest Ranger Naveen, Forest Officer Sasidharan, Forest Guard Babu, Anti-Poaching Guard Devendran and a temporary employee of the research centre Nagaraj.
Following this, all of them were arrested on Saturday and produced before the magistrate and remanded in custody.