: In a major breakthrough, the Kadapa police arrested four forest officials and 12 red sanders smugglers and seized 2.5 tonnes of logs worth around Rs. 1.25 crore, in two cases in the district on Saturday.
The arrested forest officials were charged with having links with Kollam Gangi Reddy and other inter-State red sander smugglers of Katigenahalli in Karnataka, receiving hefty bribes and facilitating smuggling of nearly 300 tonnes of red sanders logs in the last four to five years by guiding woodcutters of Tamil Nadu, piloting their vehicles, providing police clearance and extending logistic support, Superintendent of Police Navin Gulati told the media in Kadapa.
A Forest Section Officer of Pincha section, L. Sreeramulu, 57, and three forest protection watchers — B.Rama Krishna, Tirupathi Prasad and K. Penchalaiah— all working in the Balupalli Forest Range in Railway Kodur, were arrested, Dr. Gulati said. Sreeramulu has links with local smugglers Bukke Jaya Naik, Pallapu Tirupathi and Gajjala Sreenivasulu Reddy and the arrested protection watchers have colluded with Dantham Venkatesh, a smuggler and main aide Kollam Gangi Reddy.
The Rayachoti Rural police arrested FSO Sreeramulu, Bukke Jaya Naik alias Babu Naik, 41, a former forest watcher, and smugglers Pallapu Tirupathi alias Chalapathi, 40, Madanapalle and Gajjala Srinivasa Reddy, 36, of K.V. Palli mandal in Chittoor district at Parigabandagutta, a hamlet of Mudumpadu village in Tsundupalle mandal, and seized 1.50 tonnes of logs, a car and four mobile phones from them, the SP said.
In another case, police arrested D. Venkatesh, 29, of Raghavarajapuram Arundhathiwada in Railway Kodur mandal, Yellutla Ramakrishna, 40, of Gottigantivaripalli in Pulicherla Mandal in Chittoor district, K. Muni Sekhar, 27 of Srikalahasthi in Chittoor district, P. Parandhama Naidu, 39 of Venkatagiri in Nellore district, Beldon Mallaiah, 38, of Guntakal town in Anantapur district were arrested at Vagetikona near the Madhavarampodu railway gate on Saturday.
The three forest protection watchers — B. Ramakrishna, 42, Tirupathi Prasad, 37 and K. Penchalaiah, 32 —and smugglers Velugu Gangaiah,S 29, Palem Kota Sreenivasulu alias Subramanyam, 30 and Kommeddula Sreenivasulu, 25, all of Railway Kodur, were also arrested in the case, the SP said. Police seized 43 logs weighing 1.02 tonnes, two Indica cars, a mini truck, an auto, four two-wheelers and mobile phones from them.
Dr. Navin Gulati complimented OSD (Operations) Satya Yesu Babu, Assistant SP of Pulivendula K.K.N. Anbu Rajan, Rajampet DSP A. Rajendra and Circle Inspectors N. Prabhakar (Rayachoty Rural), Y. Venkateswarlu (Mydukur Urban) and Rasool Saheb (Rly. Kodur) and sub-inspectors Madhusudan Reddy, Satyanarayana, Raghuram, Ramesh, Siva Prasad and PSI Manjunatha, and staff for arresting the forest officials and the smugglers.
