Mandya: Mandya Member of Parliament C.S. Puttaraju who was in the news recently for his alleged involvement in illegal mining inside forest areas, has allegedly obstructed an Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) from discharging his duties.

Dhananjay, Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF), Mandya division, has filed a complaint against Puttaraju alleging that he threatened Forest Officers of dire consequences if they forcibly shut down his illegal quarries in Babyhill Amruth Kaval deemed forest area.

In his complaint to Mandya Deputy Commissioner Ziyaullah and Superintendent of Police G. Radhika, the DCF alleged that Puttaraju had physically stopped his officers and men while they tried to stop illegal stone quarrying in Chinakurali, Honaganahalli and Babybetta Amruth Kaval deemed forest area.

Puttaraju’s family-owned STJ Stone Crushers was imposed Rs. 40 lakh fine by officials recently for carrying out illegal stone quarrying in the forest area of Pandavapura. DCF Dhananjay has sought protection to Nagamangala range ACF Puttaswamy from Puttaraju and his men, alleging that they are facing life threats from a few anti-social elements.

The complaint said that ACF Puttaswamy and Forest Officials from Pandavapura had visited stone crushing quarries in Chinakurali (Survey No. 80), Honaganahalli (Survey No. 127) and Babybetta (Survey No. 3) and stopped a truck from carrying stones on July 1. As they were on their routine visit, over 350-400 people surrounded and stopped them from discharging their duties.

The complaint said MP Puttaraju also arrived at the spot and asked on what capacity the Officials stopped the truck from carrying stones. When the Officials showed documents that the Survey number falls in deemed forest, Puttaraju did not listen to them. A verbal altercation followed and sensing trouble, the Officials left the place and complained to higher officers.