Forest Official Held for Threatening Journalist in Chhattisgarh

Raipur: A forest official was arrested on Sunday for “threatening” a journalist after he reported about alleged illegal collection of money from vehicles at a forest check-post in Chhattisgarh’s Dhamtari district, officials said.

Range Officer Nareshchandra Deonag of Sitanadi Forest Range was arrested on the complaint of Sandip Shukla, a reporter with a regional news channel, a police official here said.

Sitanadi Range under Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve is spread over the Dhamtari and Gariaband districts of the state.

In his complaint, Raipur-based Shukla said he and his cameraperson had gone to Borai village in Dhamtari district on January 1 to cover a story related to a forest check-post.

He made a report about the alleged illegal collection of money from vehicles passing through the check-post by forest department staffers. The report was broadcast on his news channel the next day, the official said.

After the news report was aired, Shukla got a call from an unknown number on January 3 evening. The caller abused and threatened him with dire consequences over the report, he said.

The caller, who identified himself as Forest Range Officer Nareshchandra Deonag, called up Shukla multiple times and allegedly threatened him, the official said.

Shukla filed a complaint on Saturday evening following which a case was registered at Civil Lines police station in Raipur under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 296 (obscene acts) and 351 (4) (criminal intimidation by anonymous communication), he said.

Deonag was apprehended from Dhamtari and further investigation into the matter is underway, he added.

The forest official's arrest comes amid an outrage over the fatal attack on a television journalist, who had highlighted alleged irregularities in road construction, in Chhattisgarh. The journalist's body was found in a septic tank on a local contractor's property in Bijapur city on Friday.