KALPETTA: Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) (Flying Squad, Kozhikode) P Dhanesh Kumar, who had reported the illegal Muttil tree felling and was removed from the team formed to investigate such incidents in Wayanad and other districts on Thursday, was reinstated in the team by Friday evening after the move by the forest department kicked up a controversy.
Opposition leader V D Satheesan said in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday that Dhanesh Kumar was removed from the investigation team to save the mafia looting forest wealth. He added that the formation of a probe team that does not include Dhanesh raises doubts. “Dhanesh had taken a stand against those involved in forest looting. He is an official who does not yield to vested interests,” Satheesan added.
Reacting to this, Forest Minister A K Saseendran said he was not aware of the removal of the official from the investigation team. Following the growing criticism, the forest department reinstated Dhanesh in the team with the charge of probing tree felling in eight districts.
In the order issued by the principal chief conservator of forest (Vigilance and Forest Intelligence) on Thursday, it was stated that Dhanesh had been replaced with Punalur DFO Byju Krishnan due to “administrative reasons”. This order came after main accused Roji Augustine of Surya Timbers alleged that he had given Rs 2 lakh in bribe to Dhanesh, though he retracted the allegation in the night.
Dhanesh was one of the five DFOs in the original investigation team. He was in charge of the investigation in Ernakulam and Thrissur districts. On Thursday, his team seized trees felled from Thrissur forests in Nilambur and was on trail of other trees being transported. But he was directed to return to the Kozhikode Flying Squad. Besides Dhanesh, the first team included Shantri Tom, Raju K Francis, Shanavas A and Aneesh C P,DFOs of Idukki, Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad, respectively.