A team of Forest departments officials, including the staff of the Guwahati Range Office, staff of the Hengrabari Beat Office and AFPF Staff of 1st Battalion, Basistha carried out a search cum patrolling operation at Hengrabari Reserve Forest, under the Guwahati Forest Range of Kamrup Forest East Division, based on a piece of specific information received from the beat officer, Hengrabari Beat regarding fresh encroachment of reserve forest on Monday.
After reaching the GPS coordinates of the reserve forest, the team detected a plot where fresh construction was being carried out by a woman for illegal occupation of an area measuring 7800 sq ft. Upon questioning, the woman who identified herself as Purnima Singha Rajkumari alias Purnima Singh (50), W/o Lt. Manila Rajkumar, of Dudhpur village, Silchar, Assam explained that the area was occupied by her about 5 days ago. As the area falls very inside the reserve forest, the woman was detained with the assistance of female constables and the whole area was searched in presence of available witnesses. During the search, the IO detected and seized all kinds of construction materials including the temporary bamboo hut and prepared a seizure list in the presence of her family members and staff.
The accused failed to produce any ownership document of the claimed land and was arrested for further investigation.
