The khair wood mafia allegedly attacked a team of the forest department at Jatonwala village of Yamunanagar district and also damaged a government vehicle.
In a complaint to the police, Rajiv Kamboj, Forest Range Officer of Kalesar range, said an employee of the department, Sachin Malik, who was on patrol duty in the forest area of Khilanwala village in the morning of August 7, noticed that five khair trees had been cut illegally.
After informing his seniors about it, he began investigating the incident.
He got information at about 8 pm that day that the stolen wood had been hidden at Khilanwala village and that it would be transported to Jatonwala village in the night.
After receiving the information, the department set up nakas at Baniyawala, Shahjadwala and Mukarpur villages.
The team at Baniyawala naka saw a car approaching it and signalled the driver to stop. However, he sped away. The team chased the car, which stopped at Jatonwala village, where members of the other two teams of the department also reached.
“Some people of Jatonwala attacked the team and damaged the government vehicle with sticks and stones,” the complainant told the police, adding that the accused were identified by some team members on the spot.
A case has been registered against Jamshed, Kasim, Ikram, Walidin and Mehboob, all residents of Jatonwala village, under various Sections of the BNS at Pratap Nagar police station.
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