Forest ranger held for accepting bribe for permission to transport red sanders
Forest ranger V Gnanappan was arrested along with driver Youvaraj by the sleuths from the DVAC, Thiruvallur unit during a trap procedure.
Representative image (File)
CHENNAI: A forest range officer was arrested by DVAC while accepting a bribe of R.5000 through his driver (a contract staff) from a manager of an export firm to issue permission to transport legally purchased red sanders in Thiruvallur district on Thursday.
Forest ranger V Gnanappan was arrested along with driver Youvaraj by the sleuths from the DVAC, Thiruvallur unit during a trap procedure.
The arrested based on a complaint from the field manager of JSSN Exim Pvt Ltd, a company engaged in export of red sanders.
According to DVAC, Gnanappan, forest range officer, initially asked for Rs.10,000 to issue permission to transport the red sander logs. After the manager of the company told the ranger that he cannot mobilise such a huge amount, Gnanappan reduced the bribe amount to Rs.5000. As the manager of the firm was not ready to give any amount as bribe, he approached DVAC and lodged a complaint.
Based on it, the sleuths on Thursday trapped Gnanappan and his driver Yuvaraj, who accepted the money on behalf of the ranger.