Fourth such case this year, gang leaves behind sandalwood logs
The sandalwood tree which was chopped down by an unidentified gang in Ram Nagar on Saturday.(Photo: DC/File)
Coimbatore:Only four days after two sandalwood trees were smuggled out from the corporation's VOC park, an unidentified gang chopped a huge sandalwood tree from the house of a railway staff at Ram nagar in the heart of Coimbatore. However, the gang left behind the axed tree probably fearing that they would get caught while transporting the huge tree, the police said.
This is the fourth instance of a sandalwood tree being cut in Coimbatore this year by smugglers. Significantly, the police are yet to make a single arrest in the four cases. On Tuesday, two sandalwood trees were chopped in VOC park at night. Meanwhile, in another incident on Tuesday night, smugglers attempted to smuggle out a sandalwood tree from Bharathiar University campus. However, they failed due to an alert security guard, said forest officials.
On Friday night, the Kattoor police said, an unidentified gang entered the house of Krishnan, a supervisor in southern railway on Sengupta street in Ram nagar. The gang chopped down a well-grown sandalwood tree 10 feet high.
However, they could not cart it away due to its size. Around 5.30 am, when Krishnan opened the rear door of his house, he found his well-tended tree axed and left behind. The Kattoor police and forest range officers rushed to the spot and conducted investigations.
The latest sandal strike comes barely four days after the daring smuggling of two huge sandalwood trees from VOC park which is located a little over 1 km from Ram nagar. On the same night of August 19, another gang made an attempt to chop sandalwood trees on the Bharathiar University campus at Maruthamalai.
While sandalwood trees in the city are being cut and smuggled frequently, the Coimbatore police are yet to zero in on the network of smugglers on the prowl. On January 28 this year, a fully grown sandalwood tree in a housing board complex on Race Course was cut. But the smugglers could not take it away.
Four months later, on May 22, smugglers struck again in Coimbatore, just a few metres from the official bungalow of the collector at Race Course. Two days later, on May 24, a 15 feet tall sandalwood tree was axed at Hudco colony in Gandhi Ma Nagar. However, the gang left the tree behind as alert residents stalled their smuggling bid.
( Source : dc )
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