Forest officials: 12 arrested after four forest officials injured in gunfight with timber smugglers in central Terai forest division | Dehradun News

Rudrapur: Twelve persons, five named and others unidentified, were arrested by the police in Gadarpur in Udham Singh Nagar district following an encounter between Timber smugglers and forest staff in the Pipal Parao Mountains Terai Central Forest Department on Friday evening. Four Forestry officialsincluding a ranger, were injured in the shootout.
The five people booked are Gurmeet Singh, Sangat Singh, Sarvjeet Singh, Sandeep Singh and Kuldep Singh, all residents of Thapa Nagla village in Bazpur.
A group of smugglers on motorcycles entered the Pipal Parao range to cut down a teak tree. On receiving information, Ranger Roop Narayan Gautam alerted the Gadarpur Station House Officer (SHO) and the in-charge of the Gularbhoj outpost before proceeding to the site with forest workers. “When we reached compartments 112-113, we found more than 12 smugglers sitting on the firing line,” Gautam said, adding, “They tried to flee but then started firing at us. Initially, they fired in the air but soon they were aiming directly at us.”
Forest workers fired warning shots in the air. The smugglers continued firing, injuring Gautam in the stomach, as well as forest inspector Heera Singh and forest rangers Shubham Sharma and Kamal Singh. All were taken to JL Nehru District Hospital in Rudrapur. A motorcycle, two saws and a half-felled teak tree were recovered from the accident site.
Senior officials, including SP City Manoj Katyal and Pantnagar SHO Manoj Raturi, went to the hospital to check on the injured. Three forest officials have already been discharged from the hospital and one is still in the hospital.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) UC Tiwari, who was at the spot, said, “The smugglers were armed with homemade rifles and pistols and were firing with the intent to kill.”
On the instructions of newly appointed Commissioner of Police Manikant Mishra, SP Kashipur, Abhay Singh conducted a joint operation with forest officials and conducted raids on possible hideouts. “We combed the forest and searched the houses of suspects, but they had fled,” said SP Singh.
SHO Gadarpur, Jasbir Chauhan, said the accused have been booked under relevant sections of the BNS, namely 109 (attempt to murder), 186 (obstructing a public servant in discharge of his duty), 115 (intentionally causing hurt), the Forest Act and the Arms Act. “We are continuing our efforts to arrest smugglers and prevent further illegal activities in the area,” Chauhan said.
Senior forest department officials said that over 4,000 hectares of forest have been deforested in the Terai belt since the formation of the state, especially in the Terai West Forest Division. The Terai region is a riverine and forest-rich belt where timber and mining mafias are active. The incident on Friday night underscores the need for changes in policies regarding the safety of forest personnel, who protect nearly 71% of Uttarakhand's landscape.
Giving insights into the incident, an IFS officer posted in Kumaon zone told TOI, “Nearly 4,000 hectares of Terai West have been encroached upon while Terai Central Division, where the incident took place, is facing the problem of people consuming drugs, getting intoxicated and engaging in such criminal activities.”
He added, “The special task force of this forest department took time to arrive on the ground. The frontline teams were not equipped with modern tools to handle the situation. But even if they were, it would have been of no use to them as they were not firing with the intent to kill, otherwise a murder case would have been opened against them. Unlike in Odisha or some other states, our forest guards or forest rangers do not get the chance of a judicial inquiry first; only if they are proven guilty, an FIR follows. This situation requires the attention of the policy makers, it will go a long way in saving our rivers and forests and also ensure a sense of security among our frontline workers who play a key role in protecting our forests and wildlife from the mafia.”
(With contributions from Shivani Azad)