Tirupati: As one enters the office of forest ranger D.N. Balaji at Kapila Teertam in Tirupati, garlanded portraits of two slain forest officers welcome you. Outside his office is a freshly caught truckload of red sander woods.
On December 16, 2013, two forest officers, deputy ranger N.R. Sridhar and assistant beat officer David Karunakar were reportedly stoned to death by men cutting woods in the Seshachalam hills. Five months later, three men from Thumbamkadu hamlet in Javadhu Hills, all aged 25, were shot down by the Red Sanders Anti Smuggling Task Force during a combing operation to arrest those involved in red sanders smuggling.
The killing was seen as an act of revenge, planned in these very office rooms.
“Most of the foresters have vowed to stop red sander smuggling in our range. Two of our men were stoned to death by a mob. You don’t need weapons to kill people,” says a forest guard. After those deaths, there has always been a scare to venture out on patrol duties, unarmed, he adds.
The whole area in Kapilateertam, which houses the offices of DIG, M. Kanta Rao, head of the Red Sanders Anti Smuggling Task Force and of the district forest officer can be mistaken for an unused garage. Around 500 vehicles, trucks, sedans, SUV’s lie along the roads leading to the offices. Almost all of them are seized or abandoned by smugglers carrying red sanders, says a task force personnel.
DIG Kanta Rao and the forest officials were not available for comment in their offices on Thursday.
