Balangir: Raids conducted on furniture firm; huge illegal stockpiles of timber seized

By Mahendra Darje

Balangir, Sept. 15: On the Balangir Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Nitish Kumar, the staff of Bolangir and Deogaon Range along with the Balangir Divisional Mobile Squad and with the assistance of Kantabanji Range Staff, on September 15 morning conducted raids and seized 13 Sal sizes, 14 Neem sizes, 1 Neem log, 3 Teak logs, half-made furniture, and carpentry tools from the house premises of Sri Purnachandra Samarth of Phulkani Village, Kantabanji Range.

This operation was conducted under the supervision of Sri Ghanashyam Mahanta, ACF, and Sri Jitendra Sahoo, ACF.

Four accused, namely Sri Purnachandra Samarth, Sri Murali Samarth, Sri Saba Putel, and Sri Ramakanta Gahir, were arrested. The seized materials were brought to the Kantabanji Range Office Campus for further investigation.

The operation was done by Sri Byasadev Sahoo, Forester, Sri Haribansha Padhan, Forester, Sri Chittaranjan Khamari, Forester, Sri Bhagabata Dash, Forester, Sri Bighnaraj Podh, Sri Naba Kishore Das, Forester, Miss Bharati Jani, FG, Smt. Padma Munda, FG, and Smt. Biswa Bandita Sahu, FG, along with the Para Squad of the Bolangir, Deogaon, and Kantabanji Range.