Guntur: Two forest beat officers were murdered in the Nallamala forest area in Guntur district by illegal wood cutters on Saturday. The incident created a sensation as the public suspected the involvement of Maoists in the incident as Nallamala was once a Maoist stronghold. Police, however, found evidence of local illegal wood cutters’ involvement in the incident. Forest beat officers Sk. Baji Saheb, 46, and D. Lazar, 45, were axed to death when they had ventured into the forest to stop the culprits from cutting trees.
The incident took place in Nallamala forest near Nehru Nagar tanda of Bollapalli mandal. According to the police, Bahi Saheb from Kandrika and Lazar from Naidupalem got information about wood smugglers cutting trees in the Nallamala forest. The duo forwarded the information to the Vinukonda forest office and ventured into the forest. The two came across some wood cutters loading wood into an auto-rickshaw. When confronted, the wood cutters started an altercation and ask the officials to release their autorickshaw.
The heated argument turned into a clash and the wood cutters snatched the axes, which the officials had confiscated, and attacked Baji Saheb and Lazar. The duo died on the spot with severe head and body injuries and the wood cutters managed to escape along with the autorickshaw. Guntur rural SP K. Narayan Naik said that according to primary information, local illegal wood cutters were involved in the murders. He added that four special teams had been formed to nab the culprits and said that the police would arrest the culprits as early as possible.
Forest department special chief secretary A.K. Parida, assistant conservator P. Sunitha, DSP K. Nageswara Rao, RDO G. Srinivasa Rao, circle inspectors G. Srinivas Rao and T.V. Srinivasa Rao and tahsildar Srinivasa Yadav visited the spot.
