Illegal tree felling in Shivamogga’s Lingapura village has triggered both a criminal case and a forest offence case after more than a dozen teak trees and a protected rosewood tree were cut without authorisation in the Mandagadde forest range. The felling took place on Friday night, and police registered cases against those responsible on Saturday.
The affected trees were located across forest and revenue or patta land, according to land records and field inspections cited in the report. Forest officials said the trees were felled without the approvals required under applicable rules, bringing both land-use permissions and forest oversight into focus.
Teak, locally known as Saguvani, and rosewood, known as Beete, are regulated species. The report states that felling either species, including on private or patta land, requires prior permission, transit passes and oversight from the forest department. These requirements are intended to establish whether the trees can legally be cut and to control the movement of timber after felling.
Shivamogga division deputy conservator of forests Ajjaiah GR was alerted after information about the felling reached the department. He said an inspection team confirmed the incident and that officials raided the site as soon as the department received the information.
The report also said that no immediate legal action followed the felling and that the logs remained unseized for a period, creating a risk of unauthorised transport. It attributed claims of delayed enforcement to local sources who alleged that an influential call affected the initial response. That allegation was not independently established in the supplied report.
The case highlights the administrative challenge of regulating valuable timber across different land categories. Forest land, revenue land and private or patta land can involve separate records and permissions, but the felling and transport of protected or valuable species still require documented scrutiny. Field verification, seizure of logs and checking transit permissions are therefore central to determining whether a violation has occurred.
Police and forest officials are now investigating who ordered or carried out the felling, the ownership and classification of the affected plots, and whether the timber was intended for transport. The immediate official action reported so far is the registration of the criminal and forest offence cases, along with the inspection and raid at the site.
