Assam forest ranger caught red-handed while taking bribe of Rs 60,000

Guwahati: Assam Forest Department Ranger was caught red-handed while taking bribe in Bamunigaon in Chaygaon under Kamrup district of Assam.

Lakheswar Das, the Assam Forest Ranger in question was caught after the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) had conducted a raid with reliable inputs at hand.

To release a dumper bearing the registration number ML11 6864 confiscated by the department for carrying illegal sand, the forest ranger had demanded a bribe.

The owner of the vehicle is identified to be one Sahabul Islam who had approached the Anti-Corruption Branch as soon as a bribe was demanded from him. Das was caught while taking a bribe of Rs 60,000.

Das has been arrested by the Bureau under relevant sections of the Law and interrogation is going on.

Earlier this year, another Assam Forest Ranger, Makhan Islam was caught red-handed while allegedly accepting a bribe from a businessman by sleuths of the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB).

He was arrested at Highway 15 under the Silapathar police station in Upper Assam's Dhemaji district.

The ACB had summoned the District/ Divisional Forest Officer of Dhemaji Safiqur Rahman and forester of Jonai Pradeep Das to investigate on the matter of the bribery case.

The complaint was made by Sandeep das who is the owner of a furniture showroom at Jonai.

He had alleged that the ranger had confiscated his timber and had threatened to arrest him upon his failure to pay Rs 2 lakh to him.

The team of ACB claims to have recovered the bribe money of Rs 55,000 from below the seat of the accused ranger's car.

The furniture owner used to bring timber logs from Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh to make furniture. Despite producing valid documents for bringing timber from Arunachal Pradesh, the accused ranger had detained his truck and took it to his office.

He released the truck without observing any formalities, however, kept the timber behind which was of importance to the furniture maker.

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