In a shocking incident, forest smugglers brutally murdered a deputy forest ranger in Surajpur district and the red-faced Chhattisgarh Government ordered Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) to submit a detailed report about the incident within a week. The killing took place at Ganeshpur village in Pratappur Forest Range in State’s extreme thickly forested northern district late on Thursday night.
The act of forest wood smugglers had triggered a widespread outrage in the State as reports say that the smugglers clubbed to death the deputy forest ranger Motilal Kushwaha when he tried to stop the smugglers taking away the valuable forest woods. The smugglers who are believed to be active in Pratappur forest range for years, attempted to kill two of his Kushwaha’s colleagues — a forest guard and a ‘Vanpal’ — who somehow managed to escape with serious injuries and narrated the shocking tale to Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Pratappur S N Mishra.
Police sources said that after receiving a tip off regarding presence of forest wood smugglers in Ganeshpur village, the Deputy Ranger and his team rushed to the spot. Kushwaha on reaching the spot tried to stop the smugglers from taking away wood when he was attacked on the head brutally and repeatedly by the smugglers who were estimated to be up to 15 in number.
A police team reached the spot on Friday morning, recovered the body of the Deputy Forest Ranger whose head was found largely mutilated. The news of the brutal killing sparked outrage in the area and the people of Ganeshpur village staged a road blockade seeking immediate arrest of the assailants but none of the attackers was tracked down when the last report came in.
Meanwhile, CM Raman Singh has condemned the killing and expressed his heartfelt sympathies to the family of the bereaved Deputy Forest Ranger. He wished a speedy recovery to the two injured ‘brave employees.’ While calling upon the killing most unfortunate, he ordered the top police officers to investigate and arrest the culprits as early as possible. Principal Secretary, Forest, RP Mandal, told The Pioneer that he had ordered the Chief Conservator of Forest SP Singh to submit a detailed report about the incident within one week.