Chennai: R. Baskar, who is wanted by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence in connection with the seizure of red sanders worth Rs 48 crore six months ago in Chennai, also tops the ‘wanted list’ of the AP police, revealed sources.
Three weeks after the red sanders logs were seized from a godown, the owner of the place, Gopal Ramanathan, committed suicide by jumping off the terrace of his house-cum-shop in Choolaimedu, just as a DRI team reached the spot.
The DRI has been hunting for Baskar, owner of a furniture shop in Anna Nagar, Chennai, for the past six months.
“Not only Baskar, we are also looking for K. Venkatesh, Bala and Ramanathan from Chennai. We believe all of them run some kind of wood-related businesses to cover their smuggling activities,” said one AP police officer who visited Chennai a couple of days ago, looking for the suspects.
Andhra Pradesh police indicated that Ramanathan was a relative of another suspect who too is wanted.
AP police believes that these people are linked to a smuggler named Ravi Somu, also from Chennai, who was taken into preventive detention on Chittoor collector’s orders earlier this week.
Ravi has been named as an accused in 23 cases, including red sanders smuggling, registered in various police stations in Chittoor.
He and his associates used to fell and transport red sanders logs from the Seshachalam forests to Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and Manipur, AP police said.
The case of the Chennai suicide relates to the seizure of 32 tonnes of red sanders worth Rs 48 crore in the international market from a godown at Sadayankuppam village near Manali on October 3, 2014, by the DRI. Since then, Baskar has been absconding.
Businessmen from Chennai had been popping up on regular basis in the red sanders smugglers’ list maintained by the AP police.
AP police teams have been making regular arrests from the outskirts of Chennai. Even a film producer named Saravanan was arrested last week.
AP police had arrested one Selvaraj alias Rajendran, brother of a Congress politician in Chennai last year, beside one Moosa, another smuggler, who was holed up in Chennai.
Meanwhile, Vishal Kumar, the carrom board manufacturing unit owner, arrested for possession of 3 tonnes of red sanders on Wednesday in Jafferkhanpet, by the Chennai police, was handed over to the forest officials along with five of his employees.
