Sandalwood tree felled and stolen from Lalbagh

The tree was in front of Horticulture Director’s office

December 19, 2013 11:43 pm | Updated 11:43 pm IST - Bangalore:

Remains of the sandalwood tree in Lalbagh Botanical Garden that was targeted by thieves on Thursday. Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Remains of the sandalwood tree in Lalbagh Botanical Garden that was targeted by thieves on Thursday. Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

A sandalwood tree at the Lalbagh Botanical Garden in Bangalore was felled and stolen. The incident came to light on Thursday morning.

The 15-year-old tree was right in front of the Horticulture Director’s office near the main gate of Lalbagh.

Personnel from the nearby police outpost and the security guards at the main gate that is close to the spot of crime alerted the Lalbagh authorities about the missing sandalwood tree. A complaint was filed at the Siddapur police station.

Deputy Director of Lalbagh Botanical Garden J. Gunavanth said that the security guards on the Lalbagh premises came to know about the theft only in the morning. “There is one guard who goes on the rounds while another guard sits near the director’s office to keep watch. When we questioned them, they said they were clueless about the theft,” he added.

Following the theft, the authorities are trying to put in place security measures in the premises.

“We were planning to install CCTV cameras on the Lalbagh premises but as the tenders have to be called, the process will take quite a while. We will install CCTV cameras at Lalbagh as soon as possible,” Mr. Gunavanth said.

Mr. Gunavanth said that they have called for tenders for security guards to be deployed by next month. At present, home guards are deployed on the Lalbagh premises.

A similar attempt of theft was made to fell and take away a 50-year-old sandalwood tree on the Lalbagh premises near M.H. Marigowda public library on November 29.

Three branches of the tree had been cut by miscreants but they fled when they sensed that some one was coming their way leaving behind sandalwood logs worth lakhs of rupees. The sandalwood logs were then handed over to the Forest Department and a complaint had been lodged at the Siddapur police station.

The Siddapur police suspect insider involvement in the crimes. “It is not so easy to go inside the Lalbagh premises and carry away the felled sandalwood tree. We are investigating whether anyone within the premises was involved,” an official said, adding that security measures had not been heightened after the November 29 incident. If it was done, may be the second theft could have been prevented.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.