Ex-RFO of Tungareshwar accused of unfair probe into assault on staff

About 50 people from the mob of over 500, including women, have also been caught on video vandalising government property during the attack

Did the Range Forest Officer (RFO) of the Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS) have a hand in deleting the CCTV footage of the attack on the staff and forest property that occurred in March? This is the question the staff members of the sanctuary have been asking seeing how none of the accused have been arrested for the alleged assault. On June 24, forest guards and beat guards from TWS and adjoining areas wrote to the chief conservator of forests, Anwar Ahmed, alleging that then RFO, Narendra Muthe, deliberately slowed the pace of the investigation.

mid-day reached out to Ahmed, but he remained unavailable for comment. The forest guards have demanded probe into the incident from a police officer or the CID. The letter (mid-day has a copy) states, "Role of RFO Narendra Muthe in the entire incident that led to the attack on forest staff and office needs to be investigated as the officer didn't conduct a fair investigation." They have not received any response yet.

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The attack had occurred in March, after the forest department (FD) arrested five residents of Kaman village who were found roaming in the forest with the intention of poaching animals. Following the arrest, a mob of 500-odd villagers allegedly attacked FD's office and even assaulted the forest guard Ankush Kendre. However, months since that happened, nobody has been caught. Now, it has emerged that the hard disk containing the CCTV footage from that day has gone missing.

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mid-day had reported on March 30 in 'No arrests made of forest office vandalism despite video evidence' how the police had not made any arrests despite strong video evidence captured on a cell phone. The video, which is also in mid-day's possession, shows about 50 people from the mob, including women, vandalising the government property. Following the incident, forest guards had met the SGNP director as well and requested him to look into the case.

RFO says

Speaking to mid-day, former RFO Narendra Muthe said, "The allegations made against me are baseless and all I can say is that I have sincerely done my job."

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