Industrialist Samir Thapar and 15 other influential people have been sent to jail after they were arrested with liquor, arms and animal flesh from Kolhuchaur forest in Lansdowne area where they were apparently celebrating New Year without permission.
A district court sent them to 14-day remand late on Sunday after Uttarakhand police arrested them.
Police did not reveal if the JCT Mills chairman and others made any game inside the forest and said the animal flesh recovered from them has been sent for examination.
“It’s difficult to say about the type of animal flesh recovered from the site as it has been sent for examination. We can say anything only after receiving the test report,” IG Garhwal, Pushpak Jyoti said on Monday.
Thapar, chairman of JCT Mills, and others were booked under section 26 of Forest Conservation Act for trespassing reserve forest area and staying inside the Kolhuchaur forest guest house without permission. Most of the arrested men were staying in tents illegally at guest house premises.
SSP Pauri, Mukhtar Mohsin said one of the men, Mohinder Singh was also booked under Excise Act while another person Arif Hussein and others were booked under Arms Act for possessing a .300 bore German rifle and 38 live cartridges. Police recovered 171 liquor bottles from Singh’s possession.
{{/usCountry}}SSP Pauri, Mukhtar Mohsin said one of the men, Mohinder Singh was also booked under Excise Act while another person Arif Hussein and others were booked under Arms Act for possessing a .300 bore German rifle and 38 live cartridges. Police recovered 171 liquor bottles from Singh’s possession.
{{/usCountry}}The arrests were made on a tipoff. When police raided the premises, Singh showed them booking permission for three suits, while the rest had no permission from authorities, Mohsin said.
The SSP said they were trying to find out how the 16 persons entered the reserve forest area on the eve of New Year.