Parjang: Dhenkanal district’s Mahabirod forest range chief Subrat Behera is facing brickbats from netizens after a picture surfaced showing Behera punishing a timber smuggler in full public view.
While this has not gone down well with the netizens who flooded social media platforms with their criticism, the ranger confessed to have made the man do sit-ups in public.
In his clarification, ranger Behera said the accused was attempting to get the seized logs away forcible which made him angry. He further assured that he would not repeat the act in future.
When contacted, divisional forest officer Bimal Prasanna Acharya said appropriate action would be taken after holding a discussion with the ranger Monday.
According to a source, the incident took place Thursday. Mahabirod ranger Subrat Behera, deputy ranger Harmohan Nayak and forester Ramchandra Rout conducted raids at Baiginia reserve forest and seized three sal logs. Upon inquiry, it came to fore that the logs belonged to Kailash Behera of Anlakata village. Many more loges had been kept at Ranjan Bhoi’s residence at Baiginia village, the investigation revealed. Forest staff conducted raids and seized the logs and planks of sal and teak.
At the time of the raid, Ranjan was found to have escaped. Ranjan’s wife claimed that the logs belonged to Kailash and called him up from the ranger’s mobile phone.
Kailash and his son Sukumar meanwhile reached the spot on a motorcycle while the seized logs were being loaded onto a mini-truck and asked the ranger to release the seized logs.
Sukumar says the ranger got infuriated over it and not only roughed up his father but also made him do sit ups in public.
A photo featuring Kailash kneeling down and the ranger standing nearby is spreading across social media sites.
Meanwhile, the accused was produced in a local court and was sent to jail as his bail plea was rejected.
PNN