By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 19 Oct: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken over the investigation of the case related to illegal felling of trees and illegal construction in the Pakhro Range of Corbett Tiger Reserve on the orders of Uttarakhand High Court. Taking a step forward, the CBI has now begun the inquiry and has also begun interrogating some senior present and retired IFS officers in the case. This development is causing some nervousness among top present and former forest officers. So far, the CBI is yet to contact former Forest Minister Harak Singh Rawat. It may be recalled that Harak Singh Rawat has also been mentioned in the report of the Central team that had conducted a preliminary inquiry into the case of illegal felling of trees in the Pakhro Range of Corbett National Park. The Central team had estimated in its study and survey that over 6,000 trees had been illegally felled in the range in order to set up Tiger Safari there, a dream project of the then Forest Minister Harak Singh Rawat. Sources said that a team of CBI has contacted the State Forest Headquarters in Dehradun to gather facts and collect some documents that may aid the investigation into the case. Not only this, the CBI team is also learnt to have contacted former IFS Kishan Chand and Ranger Brij Bihari Sharma and has conducted the first round of their interrogation.
Kishan Chand is alleged to have led the deforestation exercise in the Pakhro Range whereas some of his seniors just chose to look on instead of taking steps to prevent the illegal felling. Sources also claim that permission had been sought and granted to fell around 300 allegedly dry trees in the forest but in reality, over 6,000 trees were felled, most of them being green and healthy. Besides, this Kishan Chand is also facing charges of amassing wealth far more than his known sources of income. Inquiry in this respect is still underway though.
At present, CBI is gathering basic facts related to the case that may be categorised as preliminary investigation. The CBI team is learnt to have spent over 2 hours at the Forest Headquarters at Rajpur Road here today in order to gather basic information and collect some documents. During its stay at the Forest Department Office, the team also spoke to many senior IFS officers of the department. It may also be recalled that keeping the investigation in view from the primary perspective. CBI also talked to the officials at the forest headquarters for about 2 hours. Also, know all the circumstances regarding the earlier investigation on this entire episode. It may also be recalled that soon after taking over the investigation of the case, The CBI had raided the house of former IFS officer Kishan Chand and Ranger Brij Bihari Sharma.
It is also learnt that the CBI team also spoke to PCCF and Head of Forest Department Anoop Malik regarding a possible field visit in Corbett. Here CBI is expected to stay and carry out investigation regarding illegal felling of trees and illegal construction inside the National Park. The then Forest Minister Harak Singh Rawat had been pressing the officials to set up a Tiger Safari at Pakhro Range of CTR. Even before the formalities regarding the mandatory permission at the state and the Central level, the construction for the Safari was started in the year 2019, allegedly under pressure from the minister. In order to facilitate the construction of the buildings, several thousands of trees were cut using heavy machinery. All this had been done without obtaining the financial sanction for the construction. The illegally felled trees were hidden and were being slowly smuggled out as wooden logs in order to hide the fact that thousands trees had been felled. Sources also claim that some illegally constructed structures are still standing at the place. When this had come to the notice of the Centre, a team of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had conducted inspection of the site and confirmed the felling of the trees. Besides this, many other irregularities were also detected by the NTCA. When this was highlighted, the Uttarakhand Government also launched an investigation and handed over the case to the Vigilance Department. However, some activists were not happy with the progress made by the Vigilance team in the case and had filed a PIL demanding CBI inquiry which has since been ordered. In the meanwhile, the Vigilance Department had also arrested Kishan Chand and Sharma last year.
Sources in the CBI claim that at present the team is scrutinising the documents collected by it and only after this will make other moves like visiting the Pakhro range and conducting investigation there.
