The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Spurt in sandalwood theft cases

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 10, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Spurt in sandalwood theft cases

THERE HAS been a spurt in sandalwood theft cases in the city and at least 10 sandalwood trees have been felled and the logs taken away by thieves recently.

Such cases have been reported from Cunningham Road in High Grounds, Victoria Layout in Ulsoor, Tumkur Road in Yeshwanthapur, ITI Colony in K.R. Puram, Lingarajapuram in Banaswadi, Papireddypalya in Jnana Bharathi, and Viviane Road in Fraser Town police station limits.

The top brass of the city police has taken a serious note of the increase in sandalwood thefts and decided to step up vigil in areas where sandalwood trees are in abundance. The Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Alok Mohan, said the City Police Commissioner, S. Mariswamy, convened a meeting of senior officers on Thursday to discuss the issue.

The police have been asked to keep a tab on those who were involved in sandalwood theft cases in the past. "I do not rule out the possibility of old offenders, on being released from jail, committing the crimes," Mr. Mohan said.

The Cubbon Park police, in whose jurisdiction sandalwood trees are in large numbers, have been regularly visiting the places where the trees are located. "We have prepared a list of sandalwood trees in our jurisdiction," an officer attached to the Cubbon Park police station said.

All the thefts reported of late are from private properties. In the past, such thefts had taken place mainly from lands belonging to government agencies. Sandalwood trees were cut and the logs stolen from the Indian Air Force (IAF) grounds in Gangammanagudi police station limits, Income Tax Department staff quarters in J.C. Nagar, Maharani's College Grounds, the BWSSB office compound on Bellary Road, Aranya Bhavan, the headquarters of the State Forest Department, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.), Jnana Bharathi campus, the Indian Statistics Institute at Kengeri, and Cubbon Park.

In 1998, thieves had cut a sandalwood tree and taken away the logs from the residence of the then Cooperation Minister, S.S. Patil, in the High Grounds police station limits, though the house had police security. The police maintain that while it is not possible to totally stop sandalwood thefts, the rising trend can be arrested. "There are sandalwood trees in all parts of the city and it is not possible for the police to keep vigil on each tree," they said.

Referring to thefts reported from government lands, a senior police officer says the officials of the respective departments too should take care of their property. As government lands are vast and lack adequate security compared to private premises, sandalwood thieves have been targeting such places. The officer suggests that the authorities should take police security for their premises or get their watch and ward staff trained by the police.

The police officers in the city also feel that their counterparts in Bangalore Rural district should heighten vigil in Medimallasandra, Kattigehalli, Byalnarsapura, and Adigarakallahalli to check sandalwood smuggling.

These villages on the outskirts of the city have been the main centres for sandalwood smuggling and people from these villages had committed a majority of sandalwood thefts in the city, the police said.

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