Anurag Thakur summoned by a trail court for illegally felling of trees

Dharamshala, November 7, 2014: A trial court in Dharamshala on Friday issued summons to Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) chief and Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur and six others in connection with a case filed against the cricket body for illegally felling large number of pine trees during the construction of its high- end resort for players- The Pavilion, near Dharamshala.

The special public prosecutor said,“ The Court of Special Judge Davinder Kumar issued summons against the seven accused in a case of illegally axing hundreds of trees during construction of five- star Hotel  in Kandi village near Dharamshala town.”

Among others against whom summons were issued are HPCA honorary secretary Vishal Marwah, spokesperson Sanjay Sharma, Bidhi Chand, the then range officer of the forest department, field Kanungo Kuldeep Kumar, Tesildar Jagdish Ram and Patwari, Jagat Raj.

The vigilance bureau, on November 29, 2013, booked Thakur, the two office- bearers of HPCA, forest and revenue officials under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 447 (criminal trespass), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code and 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

After a yearlong probe, bureau, filed charge sheet on September 6, 2014 against HPCA for illegally axing a large number of pine trees on the leased land for construction of the players residence 'The Pavilion'- which was later turned into a hotel.

This land was allotted in 2009 by BJP government, when Anurag’s father Prem Kumar Dhumal, the then CM of Himachal Pradesh.

The investigating agency has also charged the forest and revenue officials, named in the chargesheet, for conniving with HPCA and giving wrong information in the no-objection certificate (NOC) given to HPCA.

Forest officials in the NOC had stated that there are no trees on the patch of the land allotted to HPCA.

However, the vigilance enquiry established that even now, there are 2,023 trees standing at the leased land.

The probe also revealed that trees adjoining the hotel are at least 30-year-old, making it clear that they could not have been planted after the hotel was constructed.

Inconsistencies were found in the records of the forest and revenue department during the investigation which hinted that trees were felled illegally.

The bureau had also sought decade-old satellite images of the patch of land from the National Remote Sensing Centre, Hyderabad, to ascertain how many trees were illegally felled.

It is worth mentioning that the vigilance bureau had indicted Thakur, his father – the former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and 14 others in case of cheating and criminal breach of trust filed against HPCA.

The court has fixed the matter for next hearing on December 15.

 

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