MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Ehtesab Bureau on Tuesday arrested a forest department official from the court premises after his pre-arrest bail was cancelled.

Rizwan Basharat, a depot officer at Sawan in Jhelum Valley, faces charges of abuse of authority, including tampering with the grading of logs to embezzle timber, causing a loss of millions to the government treasury.

According to sources in the bureau, the accused allegedly ignored instructions from the relevant range officer to properly catalogue the logs and, in collusion with other suspects, continued embezzling timber.

On May 1, 2023, Mr Basharat also failed to record timber from Forest Compartment No. 18.09 on Form-18 and instead sold it illegally, pocketing the proceeds. Additionally, he allegedly misrepresented 400 cubic feet of timber at the Sawan Depot as private forest timber and embezzled it without proper authorisation.

The accused reportedly submitted forged applications under various names to obtain fraudulent approvals, falsely claiming to have deposited estimated payments into the exchequer. However, investigations revealed that the individuals listed on the fake applications had not received any timber from the depot.

Furthermore, the accused failed to deposit proceeds from the illegally sold timber within the required timeframe, as mandated by forest laws, resulting in further financial losses to the state treasury.

The bureau sources informed that investigation was ongoing, and strict action would be taken against additional suspects involved in the case.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2024