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When the Wayanad Muttil tree felling and rosewood smuggling case came to light in February 2021, there was a series of controversies, including how there was discord within officers in the forest department. Now, an inquiry report submitted by Rajesh Ravindran IFS Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests on June 29, 2021, has made serious allegations that NT Sajan IFS, who is Conservator of Forests, as well as senior journalist Deepak Dharmadom, were involved in a conspiracy to frame Sameer MK, the Range Forest Officer of Meppadi Range. Sameer is the one who exposed the rosewood tree felling racket in Muttil South village in Kerala’s Wayanad district.
The report by Rajesh Ravindran says that Sajan concocted a baseless Manikkunnumala tree felling case with the intention to frame a few field officers of Meppadi range. The report says that NT Sajan’s informants were the Augustine brothers- Roji Augustine and Anto Augustine- who in turn are the accused in the Muttil case.
After illegally felling trees, Augustine brothers had tried to move the logs outside Wayanad; and filed 14 applications with Meppadi forest range officer Sameer MK, seeking permission in the months of December and January. He rejected them; and that was how the whole issue came to light. But they somehow smuggled some portion of these without permission.
On February 9, the officer seized 54 logs of rosewood worth Rs 60 lakh from a timber mill at Perumbavoor in Kerala’s Ernakulam district. According to the Forest Department’s data, 101 rosewood trees were cut illegally. After receiving applications for shifting the logs, the officer had written many times to the revenue department as well as to the Vythiri Tahsildar seeking clarity about the tree felling that happened in Muttil South village of Wayanad but he did not receive any proper response. In a report filed in June 2021 by Vinod Kumar DK, chief conservator of forest, Kannur, it had been stated that there were attempts from within the department to frame Sameer for opposing the tree smuggling move.
It was on February 12, 2021 afternoon that J Devaprasad, IFS, handed over charge of Conservator of Forests (Inspection and Evaluation) to NT Sajan IFS, as the former went on leave. That was an additional charge given to Sajan who was already holding charge of CF, social forestry. "Immediately after taking over charge, Shri.N.T.Sajan, IFS, had asked the Divisional Forest Officer (Flying Squad), Kozhikode, of illegal felling at Manikunnummala Vested Forests (of which he had earlier on 10th February 2021 inquired about) and the progress of inquiry into the same," the report says.
The Flying Squad DFO Dhanesh Kumar transferred some files on the case to Sajan. Till then there was no information on Manikkumala tree felling as it happened on a private land. Sajan began an inquiry on it claiming he got the information that the tree felling happened in vested forest land (which is still not proven).
The report says that sajan Sajan proceeded to Manikunnumala on February 14 and submitted a report the very next day to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Vigilance & Forest Intelligence) accusing serious wrongdoing on the part of Divisional Forest Officer, South Wayanad, and Meppadi Range field staff. Sajan demanded strict disciplinary action against them. Rajesh Ravindran says that NT Sajan's report against the officers was not substantial as he did not have enough documents to prove it. Though Sajan's report claimed that the land documents were forged by the private owners, there was nothing to prove it.
Meanwhile, a Public Interest Litigation was filed by a person named Vineesh MV in the Kerala High Court seeking action based on Sajan’s report.
The report by Rajesh Ravindran states that the petitioner Vineesh MV is close to Augustine brothers and associated with the Reporter channel. "That he was the one who accompanied Shri. N T Sajan, IFS on his field trips to Manikkunumala on 13.02.2021 & 15.02.2021 is also a well acknowledged fact," the report says. The report further states that NT Sajan had met Anto Augustine twice on February 15 and had discussions inside a car, as per the statement given by Anto's driver. Though NT Sajan told Rajesh Ravindran that he got information on Manikkumala tree felling on February 12, the flying squad DFO Dhanesh Kumar said in his statement that he had informed Sajan about it on February 10.
The probe also found that the Manikkumala tree felling happened before Sameer took charge as Meppadi RO. "Sameer’s contention in the complaint that the rosewood trees in Manikunnumala were felled in private land under cutting permission issued by previous Range Forest Officer is a fact. His contention that the felling and removal of the said trees from the site were from September to October (months before he took charge of Meppadi Range) is also verified to be true," the report by Rajesh Ravindran says.
According to Rajesh Ravindran, on February 10, 2021, Sajan contacted Dhanesh Kumar and mentioned the Manikunnumala incident. “An hour later, Shri.Deepak Dharmadam (identifying himself as the Kozhikode Bureau Chief of NEWS 24 channel) contacted Dhanesh Kumar, taking the reference of NT Sajan and wanted the Divisional Forest Officer (Flying Squad) Kozhikode to immediately launch an inquiry into the Manikunnumala incident," says the report by Rajesh Ravindran. The report states that the journalist again contacted the DFO in the afternoon seeking progress into the inquiry. From Deepak’s call list, it was revealed that he spoke to Anto five times on the same day.
Though calls from a journalist to a source any number of times during a day do not amount to hatching any sort of conspiracy, Rajesh Ravindran has concluded that the “whole episode was orchestrated to perfection and through Deepak Dharmadom got to NT Sajan using his office to their benefit in threshing a story the way they wanted it scripted.”
As an affirmation to the report filed by Rajesh Ravindran a phone call list was leaked to the media. These records showed that Deepak Dharmadam had spoken with the accused in the tree felling case, Roji Augustine and Augustine around 107 times from 1 February 2021 to 31 March 2021.
"N.T.Sajan IFS has in the above instance acted in ways highly unbecoming of a government servant violating the basic tenets & etiquettes of functioning in the government," says the report. It added, "N.T.Sajan IFS has in the above instance acted in ways highly unbecoming of a government servant violating the basic tenets & etiquettes of functioning in the government." says the report submitted on June 29. But no disciplinary action has been taken against the IFS officer yet. The opposition has meanwhile alleged that the Chief Minister intentionally avoided disciplinary action against the officer though there is clear evidence against him.
VD Satheesan, the opposition leader alleged that the Chief Minister is protecting the officer and has urged the CM to break his silence. Deepak Dharmadam, who was earlier involved in a controversy over trying to disrupt a press meet by the Women in Cinema Collective in Ernakulam has reacted to the current issue. In a Facebook post, he alleged that he was being targeted and he was not involved in any illegal activities.