KALPETTA: In a significant breakthrough for the Muttil tree felling case, the government has initiated a fresh, extensive verification and enumeration of seized rosewood logs stored at the Kuppadi Depot of Forest Department near Sultan Bathery. This accounting process is designed to establish an accurate and final valuation of the confiscated logs, with the compiled detailed data slated to be uploaded and submitted online directly to the court.
The urgent physical inventory follows a recent directive from the Sultan Bathery Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, which instructed authorities to accelerate the auction process. The Forest Department had moved a petition highlighting that the premium rosewood logs, exposed continuously to heavy rain and harsh sunlight in the open depot, risked significant decay that would severely deplete its market value. Acknowledging the urgency to preserve state property, the court cleared the path for a public auction, prompting officials to fast-track the ongoing enumeration.
The special investigation team had submitted the chargesheet in the case months ago against the accused - Augustine brothers - Roji, Josekutty and Anto Augustine. The Wayanad Additional District Court recently dismissed all 27 appeals filed by the brothers, who had claimed ownership of the logs.
The legal perimeter surrounding the accused has tightened further with the SIT submitting formal chargesheets across 36 separate cases before the court, detailing a history of systemic exploitation of forest wealth. According to official reports, a massive volume of approximately 204.6 cubic metres of rosewood, estimated to be worth over Rs 8 crore, was illegally axed and smuggled from Muttil South village between late 2020 and early 2021.