Villager held for firing at Forest Dept team

The police have arrested a person for firing at a team of the Forest Department in the district. The accused has been identified as Arif, a resident of Nagal Patti village in the district. The Forest Department team had a narrow escape when khairwood mafia allegedly opened fire on the team members on May 3 night. A shot was fired, but no one was injured.

In a complaint to the police, forester Sandeep told the police that they got information that some people were cutting khair trees in the reserved forest of Khizri village, under the Pratap Nagar police station of the district.

Sandeep said he, along with three other officials of the Forest Department, reached the spot immediately. He added that on seeing them, the suspects opened fire at the team members and fled towards the forest area. On the complaint of Sandeep, a case was registered against three unknown persons at the Pratap Nagar police station on May 4.

Chamkaur Singh, a police spokesperson, said acting on the directions of Superintendent of Police Surinder Singh Bhoria, a police team arrested an accused within a few days.

He said the accused was today produced before a court, which sent him to three-day police remand.