3 arrested, including reporter on charges of teak theft in Assam

Hailakandi, Oct 17: Reporter of a local vernacular daily and owner of a social media page Siddeque Ahmed Mazumdar has been arrested along with two others for illegal cutting of valuable teak trees of forest department on Monday night.

The Range Forest Officer of Gharmurra, Dhrubajyoti Das confirmed the arrest and said that all the three arrested persons have been produced in the court and sent to judicial custody.

On the other hand, the other two persons have been identified as Jakir Hussain and Alauddin.

According to Das reporter Siddeque Ahmed Mazumdar of Killer bak village is the mastermind of the theft of teak trees.

Das further said that, they had received repeated complaints from public regarding the illegal cutting and theft of teak woods from Gocherra inner forest under Gharmurra range, around 60 km from Hailakandi town and the forest staff managed to catch Jakir and Alauddin, daily wage earners red handed. They were brought into the office and on interrogation they revealed the name of Siddeque Ahmed Mazumdar as mastermind of it.

Meanwhile, Siddeque was later arrested on Monday.

Moreover, Das said that, on the basis of the statement of the arrested persons, department also recovered a portion of theft wood from the different places of the area.

Further investigation is on.