Forest guard taken hostage by smugglers freed

Hardwar,Sep 20 (UNI) A forest guard taken hostage by armed forest smugglers was freed by his colleagues late last evening.

The forest department sources said Dwarika Prasad posted at Dhaulpur (east) range of the Rajaji National Park had fired at the smugglers who were transporting the khair, sal and teak trees after illegally felling them. The smugglers, reportedly about a dozen in number, overpowered the forest guard, snatched his gun and wireless set and dragged him to the nearby Bundarjood village where they beat him up mercilessly. On getting information of the incident, other forest personnel rushed to the spot and freed him. However, the smugglers managed to escape.

The director of the park, G S Pandey told UNI on phone the gun and the wireless set had been recovered from the village. After medical examination of the forest guard in Roorkee civil hospital, a case under various sections of the forest act has been registered in Buggawala police check post against eight notorious forest smugglers.

UNI XC LS KP1732