GUMLA: A 45-year-old member of a village forest protection committee was lynched allegedly by a group of Raikera-Bandhtoli villagers under the Bharno block of Gumla forest division on Friday after he tried to resist unauthorized tree feeling and tried to seize the logs.
The deceased, Shamim Ansari, was a resident of Raikera village itself and member of the village forest committee, entrusted to watch and stop illegal tree felling.
‘FIR registered against 40; woman among 4 accused held’
F orest guard Naval Kishore and Ansari’s nine-yearold son, Anees, escaped unhurt in the incident, which took place between 9 am and 10 am on Friday.
Gumla sub-divisional police officer Manish Chandra Lal, who rushed to the village after the incident with local police officers, said an FIR against five unknown and 35 known people were filed in connection with the murder. “Four of the accused, including a woman, were arrested till evening,” Lal told TOI.
Quoting Ansari’s son and Kishore, police said Ansari was tipped-off about a few women felling trees in a forest patch adjacent to the village. He reached the spot in a motorcycle with Kishore and Anees
