KOCHI: The Kerala High Court dismissed the anticipatory bail pleas of Anto Augustine, Josekutty Augustine and Roji Augustine who are the first, second and third accused respectively in the illegal tree felling case at Muttil, Wayanad.
Justice K Haripal observed that the petitioners manipulated records and influenced officials. The petitioners are not entitled to get any relief from the court. The report of the Forest Range Officer also indicates that Roji Augustin had already collected an amount of Rs 1.40 crores from the Managing Director of Malabar Timbers on the promise that he would arrange more than 10,000 cubic feet of rosewood. It was not known how he would arrange such a quantity.
The materials produced by the petitioners themselves indicate that they have not come with clean hands. Such a discretionary relief cannot be granted to the petitioners who have not acted bona fide. Hence, the bail pleas were dismissed.
The petitioners argued that the cutting was done after obtaining the necessary sanction from the village officer.
The prosecution submitted that massive cutting of trees has been done from reserved forests. The investigation revealed that the quantity and size of the 54 rosewood timber logs seized from Karimugal, Ernakulam, do not correspond to or match with the timber cut and removed from the lands in Muttil, Wayanad. Besides, it was evident that the purchase invoice produced by the petitioner was fabricated and the timber seized was suspected to be illegally collected from forests of Wayanad.
The court observed that the village officer was dancing to the tunes of the applicants. Even though mention was made about the trees for which timber value should have been paid, the village officer had overlooked the vital aspect as to whether the price was remitted. It is also clear that before cutting the trees no one had visited the property. The village officer had only seen some trees felled in the holdings of the petitioners. The revenue officers or other authorised officers were not alerted before cutting the trees, observed the court.