Overview
- Police registered an FIR in early June naming National Sugar Institute director Seema Paroha, campus officials and a timber merchant after a forest complaint alleged large-scale unauthorized tree felling on the NSI campus.
- Forest inspections on June 2 found hundreds of stumps, stacked wood dated eight to ten months, and evidence that felled trees were removed over months, with reported totals rising from roughly 655 mature trees to about 723 in later reports.
- Officials allege nearly 250 trees were uprooted with heavy machinery and that a large quantity of timber was sold and transported to a private merchant in Anwarganj, which investigators plan to trace through CCTV and transport records.
- The forest department has suspended a forest guard for failing to monitor the area and the institute has tightened entry to outsiders while police and departmental probes continue without any public reports of arrests.
- The case began after complaints from the NSI employees’ union, and if convictions follow under the Forest Conservation Act the accused could face fines and possible imprisonment, while investigators continue forensic and documentary checks.