Revenue officials investigating the felling of rosewood at Krishnagiri village in Wayanad unearthed stumps of two huge rosewood trees on a revenue pattaya land in the village on Friday.
A team of 12 officials, under the Sulthan Bathery tahsildar, on verifying a 3.5-acre coffee plantation with the tree register found that three rosewood trees had been stolen from the land.
While logs of one of the trees were seized a few months ago and a case had been registered, a probe has been initiated in the case of the other two trees, officials said. The team was able to unearth the stumps of two trees that were covered with mud after felling it, Krishnagiri village officer Abdul Salam, a member of the team, said. He said cases would be registered against the land owner in this connection.
As many as 20 of the 29 rosewood trees on the land had been identified with the tree register and the process of verification of the rest was on. The investigation would continue, Mr. Salam said.
So far, revenue officials had seized 36 logs of rosewood axed from various parts of the village. The officials are also investigating the links of the landowner with a timber lobby at Muttil, which had cut endangered rosewood trees in large numbers on revenue pattaya land in Muttil South village by misinterpreting a government order.
Meanwhile, forest personnel shifted five cubic metre of rosewood that had been reportedly felled by the mafia at Muttil to a timber depot of the department at Kuppadi.
