Sandalwood Thieves Make Vain Attempt
Some miscreants made a futile attempt to cut and take away a 50-year-old sandalwood tree from the protected premises of Lalbagh on Friday midnight.
The thieves chopped three branches of the tree without the knowledge of the guards. They had planned to transport it after cutting the branches into pieces.
However, the culprits could not take away the branches worth lakhs of rupees as they noticed the movement of the guards in the premises. They ran away from the park. The sandalwood logs were later handed over to the Forest Department.
A complaint has been lodged with Siddapura Police Station in this regard and the Forest Department is also looking into the matter. A source from the Horticulture Department said, insider’s hand is suspected in the incident and police officials are probing the incident.
Following the incident, the Deputy Director of Lalbagh J Gunavanth is planning to convey an emergency meeting with the security agency to discuss about the issue which had exposed the loophole.
He said, tree guards will be placed around sandal trees and plants in the campus.
Such incidents have been happening from the last four months in the premises of Lalbagh botanical garden. Thieves are targeting five big sandalwood trees among which four are located at Shanthinagar entrance of the botanical garden and presently the branches of the tree which were chopped off is located near M H Marigowda public library.