In what appears to be a reel sequence playing out in real life, smugglers used a river water flow to shift wooden logs from Sagar district to a forest area in Narsinghpur district of Madhya Pradesh.
A video of the floating wooden logs has gone viral with many social media users drawing parallels between a scene from an Allu Arjun-starrer and the ingenious smuggling modus operandi. The role of deputy ranger, Tendukheda, and some employees has come under the scanner as they seized these 52 wooden logs floating in the Baranjh river from the Alanpur forest beat in the Narsinghpur district and hid them at a forest guard's place without informing their seniors, a forest officer said on Sunday.
"These wooden logs seem to be placed in the Baranjh river in the neighbouring Sagar district and (considering the river flow) floated to the Alanpur forest beat on August 25 night," said Divisional Forest Official (DFO) PD Gabriel.
He said Tendukheda forest deputy ranger and some employees retrieved these wooden logs from the river, transported them on a tractor-trolley, and hid them at a place of a forest guard without informing senior officials. "After a tip-off, a forest squad seized these wooden logs from the forest guard. An inquiry has been launched against the deputy ranger and the forest guard," he said.