Manakpur: 3 arrested for smuggling 'khair' trees

MOHALI: Three people were arrested on Thursday for smuggling ‘khair’ trees . According to the cops, the accused have been identified as Binder Singh and Gola, both residents of Masol, and Mani Lal, a resident of Manakpur village.


Police said that two of the accused — Binder Singh and Gola — were carrying eight quintals of ‘khair’ trees in the back of a gypsy car when they were stopped by forest officials during the wee hours of Thursday.

The forest officials, after receiving a tip-off, had laid a special naka at the Tandi-Masol road and stopped the vehicle.

When the officials found the ‘khair’ trees in the back of the car, both the accused got out and started abusing and fighting with the forest officials. They then managed to flee towards Nayagaon and on their way, three pieces of ‘khair’ trees fell down and the officials found out that the trees were stolen from Nada village. According to the police, both the accused had later sold the trees to Mani Ram. All the three accused were arrested the same day, said a police officer.

Nayagaon station house officer (SHO) Dalbir Singh said: “We received information about the theft from the forest officials. Both the accused sold the ‘khair’ to a resident of Manakpur village. All the accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Indian Forect Act. The probe is on and the accused are under a three-day police remand.

(The story was written by Piyush Sarna)