Raipur: Raigarh district police and the forest department have busted an inter-state timber smuggling syndicate involved in the illegal felling and storage of Khair and Tendu trees.
The syndicate operated across Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh. Primary suspect Rohit Mittal rented a warehouse in Garhumaria, where he stored timber felled by luring local villagers from Dharamjaigarh, Gharghoda, and Tamnar forest ranges. Mittal, along with business partner Manish Agarwal and transporters Bharat Kumar Meshram and Salauddin Khan, smuggled the timber to states including Haryana and Himachal Pradesh using forged transport permits to sell the wood at higher rates.
Police arrested three key suspects: Rohit Mittal, Manish Agarwal, and Salauddin Khan. A court sent them to judicial custody following charges filed at the Jootmill police station under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for fraud, forgery, and organized crime, alongside provisions of the Indian Forest Act, 1927. Transporter Bharat Kumar Meshram is on the run.
Forest department officials received information in May last year regarding illegal timber stored at a warehouse in Jamtikra (Garhumaria), rented by Rohit Mittal from owner Naresh Agarwal. On 5 May 2025, a forest department team raided the premises, seizing a truck (CG 15 DV-7577) loaded with 42 logs of Tendu wood (1.731 cubic metres). Officials also seized 146 logs of Tendu and Khair wood (6.741 cubic metres), nine stacks of firewood, a cutting machine, a weighing scale, axes, and hammers.
Suspects initially presented a transport permit, which lacked the official signature of the Range Forest Officer and was identified as forged. Forest Range Officer Sanjay Lakra submitted a formal complaint to Jootmill police station on 2 September 2026, leading to the registration of an FIR.
Senior Superintendent of Police Shashi Mohan Singh formed a special investigation team under CSP Mayank Mishra to track down the network. Following raids on 3 September, police detained the three suspects and recovered evidence confirming their involvement. Police teams are searching for the absconding suspect Bharat Kumar Meshram.
