Bid to smuggle khair wood foiled at Hoshiarpur village

The sadar police and forest department on Friday night seized a pickup truck reportedly laden with illegally cut logs of khair wood from the forest area in Saleran village. The miscreants managed to flee. Village sarpanch Navjinder Bedi alleged that they opened fire at him before fleeing.

Bedi said that he was called by the forest guards informing that some persons were indulging in the smuggling of khair wood.

“When I tried to intercept their vehicle, one of the miscreants fired a shot which hit the front glass of my car. They tried to escape with the logs, but their vehicle got struck in a furrow, so they abandoned it and fled,” said Bedi.

He revealed that the vehicle bore the registration number of Himachal Pradesh.

Divisional forest officer Nalin Yadav said that the seized material must be the proceeds of seven to eight trees.

On the statement of the Saleran sarpanch, the sadar police have registered an attempt to murder case against unidentified accused. Other relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Indian Forest Act have also been added.