Missing men of Jawadhu Hills

CHENNAI: It was on the second day of Pongal that Manickam (47) left his home located on the fringes of Mullipattu, a remote village in Jawadhu Hills. His wife, Kupamma, remembers watching him step out of their mud house at daybreak and walk through the shoulders of the field that will take him to the main village.

As she returned to her household chores knowing very well the purpose of his outing, little did she know that the day, seven years ago, will be the last time she would see him.

In his previous outings, Manickam would return home within a fortnight. His family was familiar with this routine – he would remain out of contact for days, and return home with a lump sum amount. But this time was different.

Days passed by but there was no sign of his return. And as days turned into weeks, an unknown fear gripped Kuppamma. In the following months, the family launched a frantic search for Manickam, and three months later, Kuppamma and her sister-in-law set off on a nightmarish journey to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh hoping to find him.

Never found

“Kattukku poraen (going to the forest)” is what Manickam told his wife before stepping out of his home that day. Kuppamma knew what he was up to.

His dual life as a farmer and a ‘foot soldier’ of the red sander mafia was an open secret much like many other men in Jawadhu Hills, which is spread across three districts in north Tamil Nadu – Tiruvannamalai, Vellore and Tirupattur.

Manickam’s disappearance added him to the long list of tribal men from the hills, who were lured into the close-knit mafia to make a quick buck by felling red sander trees inside the thick forests of Seshachalam, spread over about 80 km long and 40 km wide in Andhra Pradesh.

Some remain untraceable till day, while others have lived to tell the tale of fellow villagers who have died inside the red sander-rich forests of Andhra. A common thread that runs through them is keeping their dangerous venture under wraps, as a result of which most of the missing men remain uncounted for and their mysterious disappearance are off official records.

In an effort to trace some of the families of these missing men of Jawadhu Hills, this reporter, along with photojournalist Manivasagan, travelled to 10-12 remote villages of Jawadhu and met the families of missing men and scores of villagers including those who are familiar of how the mafia operates. To say it brought out some shocking revelations is an understatement.

At Mullipattu, Manickam’s youngest son, Sakthivel, recalled that no amount of dissuasion worked as his father consciously treaded the dangerous path. In the months that followed his disappearance, his mother and aunt, with the help of advocates, visited prisons in YSR Kadapa, Tirupati, and Nellore to check if Manickam was arrested and lodged in any of these jails in the red sander smuggling case. But their two-year-long search not only ended in vain, the family also had to fall in line with the village’s diktat.

“After waiting for nearly five years, we had to agree to the village’s rule to perform last rites for my father, as otherwise we would not be allowed to take part in any of the social gatherings and festivals. My marriage was delayed by two years because of this. We ended up performing the final rites for my father two years ago,” Sakthivel recalled.

No answers

Even as he and his family keep staring at questions of what happened to his father, they are not alone in the struggle to find answers.

Some kilometres away from Mullipattu, Pattu of Porinellimarathur village shares a similar story. Her husband Muthumanickam ‘disappeared’ five years ago.

“He would often leave home saying he was a construction labourer in Bengaluru and Chennai. He would return in 2-3 weeks, and every time he came, he would give me Rs 3,000 to Rs 4000,” she said.

But five years ago, when Muthumanickam left his home saying he would return soon, he did not utter a word of where he was going.

The mother of two boys, Pattu is struggling to make ends meet while earning a living as a plantation worker in Kerala, leaving behind her two sons under the care of her in-laws. “I went to the workers’ market in Bengaluru and Chennai to find my husband but the search was futile,” she said.

In hushed tones, some villagers admitted that many of their men, like Manickam and Muthumanickam, were involved in felling of red sanders. With a veil of secrecy spread over the organised crime involving the tribal men (between early 20s and late 50s years), villagers were not only aware of how the network operated but also knew that if any of them did not return within a fortnight or if there were no calls of their arrest and imprisonment in the following two weeks, it meant that they would never return.

No more a secret

The tribal men turning into woodcutters has been happening for more than 20 years, but it drew the attention of the outside world with three instances. The death of two Andhra forest personnel in December 2013, the subsequent enmasse arrest of tribals in connection with the case, and the notorious encounter of 20 TN tribal men inside Seshachalam in April 2015.

Inquiry with reliable government sources and villagers in the hills revealed that M Kesavan of Reddipalayam, P Mohan of Thumbakadu, Kasi of Palampattu, Sankar of Periya Panaparai, Mani of Kovilandur, Devaraj of Puttur and C Settu of Puliyankuppam some of the missing men of the hills.

“There were cases of missing men from Puthur and Mandaparai, but their families have settled for blood money (compensation from the agents),” said a government employee and native of the hills. A tribal youth, who did not want to be named, added that none of the families would inform the police or file a missing complaint as they have ‘guilty conscience’.

Mohan, brother of one of the missing men, Kesavan, confirmed the information regarding his brother and said that he was missing from 2017. “I did not know that he was involved in red sanders smuggling, but many villagers told me that he went to Andhra forest for semmaram (red sanders). He went with the agents in the hills,” he added.

Lure of Quick Money

Over the years, agents of the red sander mafia have quietly lured tribal men into the vicious cycle with a promise of quick money and free liquor.

The well-connected agents have their task cut out – they identify vulnerable men, especially alcoholics and approach them through their local contacts in the villages. Once they agree to fell red sander trees, they discreetly move in batches of 10-15 from their village to Andhra by taking different routes but reach a designated point before being taken inside the forest.

They walk for days, covering vast tracks of the dry forest and spend days deep inside the forest to accomplish their task, starting from identifying A-grade red sander trees, felling them, removing the sapwood and further cutting the heartwood to transportable sizes. They carry them for miles to pre-designated loading points on the periphery of the forest. The foot soldiers of the international mafia do not mind risking their lives for the quick money, but there is always a luring danger that takes their lives.

Many in the hills claimed that the number of men involved in red sander smuggling has come down drastically. However, their claim was debunked as the Andhra RSASTF arrested 15 men – all natives of Padapanja Mathur, Mottur, Pallathur, and Palakkanur villages in Silambadi and Mel Silambadi panchayats in Jamunamarathur taluk, on August 18. Nine days later, during the late hours of August 26, the task force arrested 19 men, including 15 from Jawadhu Hills, along the restricted area of RF in Tirupathi. The team confiscated three vehicles, four axes and an equal number of iron saws from them.

“At least five cases were reported in Tirupati jurisdiction alone in a week or 10 days. Most of the arrested men were from Jawadhu Hills,” said an AP police personnel. “Within a month, they obtain bail and never show up for further hearings nor stop venturing into the forest. At any given point of time, over 100 men from Jawadhu are imprisoned in Andhra jails in connection with red sander smuggling cases.”

Uncounted Deaths

A native of Athipattu in Jawadhu said that the majority of the men in most of the villages continue to be involved in red sander smuggling. Their deaths inside the forest goes unreported.

“Some have lost their lives to snake bites, or succumbed to injuries sustained while trying to escape arrest inside the forest. There are even instances of electrocution when they come into contact with electric fencing along the farm lands on the boundary of the forest areas, and drowning by jumping into water bodies while escaping the task force,” said a source privy to the activities of smuggling.

After the twin encounters in April 2015, which claimed the lives of 20 men from Tiruvannamalai, Vellore and Salem, no information of the task force’s encounters and firing was made public to avoid unwanted troubles, political pressure and stoking inter-state tensions.

“In December 2017, four men from in and around our Amirthi were gunned down by the task force. We came to know this from those who escaped from the task force, but there was no news regarding that,” another resident claimed.

In another incident during the third week of February 2018, seven men, believed to be from Jawadhu Hills, were found dead in a waterbody close to the reserve forest in Vontimitta in Kadapa district.

There were also a few incidents of men bringing back highly decomposed bodies of the deceased to their village. One of them was the body of 21-year-old Elumalai of Perunkattur in Kovilur panchayat, which was brought back by a group of men, who went along with him to the forest. They informed villagers that they had to run helter-skelter to escape the task force and found his body floating in a waterbody a few days later inside the forest.

In some cases, the woodcutters leave behind the bodies or if possible, bury the dead inside the forest and inform the families on their return but none of them go on record nor are the dead accounted for. “My younger brother (Swaminathan) lost his life. He was working as a driver in a gas agency firm. We don’t know how he ended up with the red sander smuggling gang until we received a call from relatives that he was killed in an accident in Renigunta,” Renugopal said, recalling the ill-fated incident on February 14, 2018.

Saminathan (27), and another person, a father of three daughters, were hired by the red sander mafia to transport about 25 logs in a van. When they were heading towards the pre-designated delivery spot, they mistook the siren of an ambulance for a police vehicle and drove fast, losing control of the vehicle. They rammed the vehicle onto a stationed lorry. While a 45-year-old from Nanjukondapuram died on the spot, Saminathan was grievously injured, and died three hours later.

“The village elders found that a man named Shanmugam had engaged the duo to transport the red sander logs, and asked him to compensate the family,” claimed an elder of the village.

Murugan, a resident of Palabirampattu, is a living example of how the tribals fall prey to the mafia. In his case, the unholy connection cost him a leg. “I was engaged as an escort for the vehicle transporting red sanders logs. My job was to ride the bike ahead of the loaded vehicle and alert the driver, if there is any vehicle check. But I lost control of the bike while negotiating a curve and fell. The log-laden vehicle tailing me ran over my left leg,” he told this reporter.

He was rushed to the Christian Medical College Hospital in Vellore, where his leg was amputated below the knee. “Now, I have to live with this,” added Murugan, who walks with the help of a heavy calliper.

His mother, who is worried about his future, deplored that the agent was their relative and promised to take care of Murugan’s medical expenses and also support him financially to find a regular source of income. But except for paying the medical bills during the operation, no help came their way till today.

As a village elder noted, “Now, the agent has found a new breed of woodcutters among the tribal community and continues to send them to the forest. Ironically, he was a member of the forest protection group in Amirthi Forest.”

Legal Recourse

Advocate and human rights activist Henri Tiphange of Madurai-based Civil Society People’s Watch, who headed a fact-finding team after the twin encounters in Seshachalam forest eight years ago, called for intervention of the judiciary to ensure the fundamental rights of the tribals, who have been exploited due to their poverty.

“The judiciary should direct Tiruvannamalai and Vellore districts’ legal authority to dispatch advocates to these tribal villages to collect details of the missing men and trace them. If they are not in the prisons of Andhra, the family should be encouraged to file habeas corpus,” he said.

A senior bureaucrat, who had worked in Tiruvannamalai, said that poverty, lack of employment and illiteracy have made the tribals an easy target for the timber mafias. “The agents promise them close to Rs 1 lakh/person for a 20-day assignment. Some of them give 50% of the promised amount as advance and settle the remaining once they finish their job – felling and handing over transportable size of ‘A’ grade red sander logs. It’s a lifetime settlement for the tribal men. Hence, many take the bait without caring about the risk,” explained the official.

The revenue and DRDA (District Rural Development Agency) launched several intervention programmes along with the police department in 2018 to dissuade the men from venturing into the forest. “It paid off to an extent as we roped in women from the targeted group and created awareness among them about the danger involved in illegal activities. We created alternative livelihoods for the women to support their families. But the programme faltered after 2020 and things return to the never-ending vicious circle,” lamented the official

Village elders have been pleading with the government to save their next generation from the group of unscrupulous agents and their masters, and take stern action against organised crime. “We have already lost too many lives. We don’t want this to continue anymore,” rued 45 year-old Vellaiyan of Jamunamarthur.

Jawadhu Hills of Eastern Ghats: A Fact Box

- Over 300 villages in 15 panchayats, with population estimated around 80,000

- Poverty and dearth of employment taking them towards dangerous path

- Men (between early 20s to late 50s) lured into red sanders smuggling for more than 20 years

- Paid Rs 800-1,000/kg of heartwood of red sanders

- A few lucky ones return with a lakh in a single assignment

- Each assignment takes 10-20 days

Seshachalam Biosphere

- Protected area in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh

- Spread over 4.7 lakh hectares in Chittoor, Kurnool, Kadapa and Tirupati

- Home to the best quality of red sanders

Stages of Smuggling

1. Stage I - Woodcutters (mostly from Jawadhu Hills)

2. Stage II - Mastery (agents supplying men for woodcutting)

3. Stage III - Pilot/logistics (Aid the network while loading and unloading, and also send alerts if there are police-check ahead of their route)

4. Stage IV - Transport (from l loading point on the outskirt of the forest to a safehouse)

5. Stage V – Godown Keeper (Safekeeper of the logs, diverts to designated points/ ports to smuggle out in huge quantity to foreign countries)

6. Stage VI - Exporter

7. Stage VII - International smugglers (having roots in Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi and West Bengal, with network in China, Japan, Korea, Singapore and also Gulf countries like UAE)

- One tonne of red sanders – Rs 1 crore (international black market)

- Over 19,000 metric tonnes of red sanders confiscated while being smuggled between 2016 and 2020, according to CITES report

- China remains the largest importer of red sanders

Reasons for High Demand

- Valued for its colour and grain pattern

- Used for making musical instruments that are given to newly married couples in Japan and China

- Red dyke extracted from red sanders used in food and textile industries

- Used to prepare traditional medicine particularly in Asian countries

Endangered Species

- According to TRAFFIC (Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce), a global wildlife trade monitoring organisation, red sanders is listed under the endangered species in the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

- Listed under Schedule IV of The Wildlife Protection, sale and transportation of red sanders is prohibited.

Recent Arrests, Killings, Encounters, Mysterious Disappearance

- 15 men from Jawadhu Hills arrested by special task force on August 18.

- 19 men, including 15 from Jawadhu Hills, arrested with axes and saws on Aug 26 near Tirupati.

- Killing of 2 forest guards inside the Seshachalam Reserve Forest near Tirupati by a group of smugglers in mid-2013 paved the way for the Andhra government to constitute the Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF).

- Since 2015, more than 13,000 woodcutters from western districts of TN have been arrested. Most of them are from Jawadhu Hills.

- During the intervening night of April 6 and 7, around 20 people from northern districts of TN were gunned down in an alleged encounter in Seshachalam by the RSASTF.

- Seven were from Jawadhu Hills and villages on the foothills.

- After the 2015 twin encounters, several men who left for Andhra forests in the past two years were brought back dead or remain untraceable till date.