Gundlupet: Forest Department officials have arrested one person for setting fire to Maddur Forest in Bandipur Tiger Reserve in the taluk and have launched a hunt to nab two others who are absconding.

The arrested is Arun Kumar, a resident of Kallipura village in the taluk and the Forest staff have seized four teak wood logs from him.

It is learnt that Arun, along with two others, had set fire in the forest and when the Forest staff rushed to the fire spot to extinguish it, Arun and two others had chopped teak trees in forest borders and had transported them.

The Forest officials, who came to know about it, conducted an investigation and traced Arun to his house and arrested him besides seizing four teak wood logs from his house, said Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) Ravindra.