Bengaluru: Police are in search of three persons who reportedly barged into the office of a forest official and threatened to file a complaint if their demands were not met.
The trio — Srinivas, Chennappa and Govindaiah — are registered contractors with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and Forest Department.
On Friday evening, they forced their way into the office of Deputy Conservator of Forests (Bengaluru Urban) Dipika Bajpai at Aranya Bhavan in Malleswaram. They threatened to file a complaint under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
In her complaint to the Sadashivanagar police, Ms. Bajpai states that the trio have used similar threats to get contracts. In the past, they had demanded the transfer of a forest watcher, renewal of the licence of a saw mill that flouted rules and release of trucks that were seized for illegally transporting timber.
Apart from previous threats, which have been recorded, Friday’s incident was witnessed by many people in the office.
The police have booked the trio under Sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 353 (use of force to prevent an official from discharging duty and 354 (outraging the modesty of women) of the Indian Penal Code.
