In the case of JCT Mills chairman Sameer Thapar and 15 others accused of forest trespass with firearm and other violations while partying at the Kolhuchaud forest rest house on new year’s eve, the prosecution has filed an application in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate at Kotdwar seeking police remand of one of the accused — Arif Hussain, who was found carrying 15 live rounds of 375 bore though the gun has not been found yet.
Sources state that this firearm of the bore also favoured for killing large wild animals, could reveal crucial information on whether it was used for shooting, which would substantiate grounds for the allegation of poaching.
The court has not issued an order regarding the application in the case so far. The District Government counsellor (criminal) Avanish Negi said that Aarif Hussain had not filed the application of bail in the court of the additional judge.
The court of additional district judge in Kotdwar had on January 6 rejected the bail application of the 15 accused including Samir Thapar and Jayant Nanda of Cargo Motors in the case of reserved forest trespass, posession of arms in protected area along with varied types of raw and cooked meat found at the site.
It will be recalled that the sixteen accused were arrested on the charge of trespass in the reserved forest of the lansdowne forest division at the Kolhuchaud forest rest house. The State administration also suspended the divisional forest officer as a consequence of the violations found to have been committed at the site under his purview. If sources are to be believed, Thapar and his group of influential persons and their friends are not new to the scenario they were in when apprehended by the authorities. Some also claim that such parties are common feature in various parts of the state on special occasions but there are only some cases in which the authorities actually take necessary action as per the law as seen in the case of Thapar and others.