TELANGANA: Illegal cultivators attack forest officers in Mukkidigundam
HYDERABAD: Two forest officials were injured when illegal cultivators attacked them in Mukkidigundam forest area of Nagarkurnool district on Tuesday.
According to officials, Forest Section Officer Jayaraj and Beat Officer Valya Nayak sustained minor injuries during the attack.
The incident occurred in Vattimakulakunta area under the Kollapur forest range, where forest officers found people cutting and burning trees across about 15 acres of land. When the officials confronted a group of tribal women and their husbands, warning them that illegal logging was a punishable offence, the group surrounded the officers and attacked them.
District officials visit site
District Forest Officer Rohit Gopidi, Achampet Divisional Forest Officer Chandrashekar, and Senior Range Officer Eshwar visited the spot and inspected the area where they felled and burnt the trees.
Officials took four women Sallamma, Jyothi, Chinnamma, and Bujjila into custody and shifted them to the Kollapur forest range office. The men involved reportedly fled the scene.
Case registered against 11 persons
Later in the evening, Jayaraj and Valya Nayak lodged a complaint at Kollapur police station, naming 11 persons allegedly involved in the assault. Police registered a case and initiated an investigation.
