Madhya Pradesh: CBI Arrests Smuggler Of Dhamnod Forest Range's Sandalwood

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested an alleged sandalwood smuggler from Bahadurgarh, Haryana, said officials on Friday.

The absconding accused, Rajkumar Sharma, was wanted in a case of smuggling of 15,350.55 kgs of sandalwood from the Dhamnod Forest Range of the state. 

The CBI had registered the case on August 20, 2024, under the Indian Forest Act, 1927, and the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, in the matter of smuggling the above quantity of sandalwood in 504 pieces and launched an investigation. 

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During the investigation, the CBI identified six as accused: Bakthavatchalam, B. Balamurgan, Thamim Ansari, Shiv Kumar, Rajkumar Sharma, and Ishwar Chander Sharma.

It filed its chargesheet on December 20, 2024, against the six before the court of the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Dharampuri, District Dhar, Madhya Pradesh.

The court issued arrest warrants against all the accused persons who were absconding. Acting on specific information, the CBI arrested Rajkumar Sharma on Wednesday from Bahadurgarh on the strength of a Non-Bailable Warrant issued by the court. He will be produced on transit remand before the court, officials said.