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| Court frames charges against forest officers, timber traders | | | JAMMU Feb14
Chief Judicial Magistrate Jammu Mr. Sanjay Dhar framed charges against the then Timber Passing Officer Gurdeep Singh and the then Forester Ghulam Mohd Khan and five timber suppliers namely Sheikh Farooq, Mohd Farooq Ganai, Baldev Singh, Mustaq Ahmed and Kuldeep Singh in a much publicized timber scam which was investigated by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the direction of High Court in a Public Interest Litigation.
This much publicized timber scam was registered by CBI in compliance to the direction passed by the High Court on September 12, 2005 in a PIL u/s 120-B r/w sections 420, 467, 468 471 RPC on the basis on the FIR NO 24/2005 registered by Crime Branch Jammu for similar offences on the complaint of one VK Gupta retired Forest Officer
It was alleged in the complaint that against order of ‘A’ timber, the officers of forest department passed ‘C’ grade timber and against supply of Deodar dispatched FIR, which is 1/8th of the price of Deodar and accepted FIR/CHIR against Deodar from the timber merchants for showing this favour on consideration of 10% commission of the total value of timber.
During the investigation it was revealed that DGS&D New-Delhi had placed two supply orders to conservator of forest Central Circle J&K Jammu. One supply order of March 29, 2005,which was for 210 Cu.mts of timber sleepers Grade-II of Chir/Fir was raised two 430 Cu.mts. The second supply order of April 6, 2005 was for 1370 Cu.Mts of timber sleeper Grade-I of Chir/Fir. In response to these two supply orders the forest department, procured timber of chir/fir species from five different traders namely M/S Classic Timber Traders, M/S National Timber Traders, M/S Farooq and Company, M/S Syal Enterprises and M/S JK Wood Products.
Regarding allegations in respect of passing of ‘C’ Grade timber instead of ‘A’ Grade, the investigating agency intercepted 14 railway wagons and these wagons were opened and inspected in presence of the members of the committee constituted by the High Court. Out of 5420 scants found in 14 wagons, 122 scants were found substandard by the committee members. It was found that accused Gurdeep Singh, the then Timber Passing officer Jammu, and accused Ghulam Mohd Khan, the then forester working under TPO Jammu, dishonestly and fraudulently passed all the timber so dispatched included 122 sub-standard scants.
CJM while framing charges against the accused persons said that the allegation of payment to the officers of Army by the timber merchants and procurement of timber in violation of guidelines of Apex Court were not found substantiated and the allegation regarding payment of 10 % of the total cost of timber, as commission to officers of forest department, was also found to be unsubstantiated as per the investigation report of the CBI.
CJM Jammu after hearing senior Public Prosecutor Mr. SK Bhat, appearing for the CBI and also going through the record, observed that in the present case 5416 scants of timber procured by forest department from above mentioned timber traders passed by TPO and forester loaded in 14 wagons at Railway Station Bari-Brahmana and dispatched to different consignees of Army as per the supply order placed by the DGS&D. There is material on record to show that out of these scants of timber, 122 scants were found to be sub-standard and these sub-standard scants were supplied by accused timber suppliers in different proportions. There is also material on record to show that accused TPO and forester, who were supposed to make measurement of timber, had shown the volume of said timber as 595 cu.mt, but upon its measurement by the committee constituted by the High Court, its volume was found to be only 457.18 Cu.mt. Thus, these accused have passed and certified 29 % more volume valuing about Rs 28.6 lakh to benefit the suppliers. The tally sheets which were supposed to be prepared by accused TPO and forester, were not prepared by them and not even by anybody from their office, but were only signed these two accused.
While framing charges the CJM further observed that in the legal position and circumstances established from the material on record, it is prima-facie disclosed that accused entered into a criminal conspiracy to cheat consignees. Thus prima-facie offences u/s 420/511, 468, 471 r/w section 120-B RPC are made out against the accused and charges against them are accordingly framed and prosecution was directed to lead evidence in support of their case on next date of hearing. |
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