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Gurugram cops book builder for chopping over 1,500 trees

According to the police, on September 16 last year, M3M sent an application to Divisional Forest Office, seeking permission to chop 20 trees in the Chauma village area.

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The Gurugram Police have registered a case against construction company M3M India Private Limited for chopping down more than 1,500 trees after receiving a letter from the Forest Department in this regard. A case has also been registered against the department's own guard, who has been accused of accepting bribe.

According to the police, on September 16 last year, M3M sent an application to Divisional Forest Office, seeking permission to chop 20 trees in the Chauma village area. The Forest Department approved the application, allowing the company to transplant 20 trees. The company then proceeded to chop down 1,322 full-grown trees and 921 undersized trees on the site.

ACP Jai Singh, who is investigating the matter, told DNA: "We have registered a case against the company. The matter is under investigation. No arrests have been made, so far."

On February 20 this year, the Forest Department had formed an investigative team after the matter came to their attention. "The team found that some representatives of M3M company, along with forest guards of that area, carried out this illegal act," Shyam Sunder, District Forest Officer (DFO), Gurugram, said.

Forest guard Praveen was accused of demanding Rs 7 lakh from the M3M representatives, but he later settled for Rs 4 lakh, of which he was yet to receive Rs 70,000. Supervisors Khajan Singh, Forester, and Amardeep, Range Forest Officer, were also found to be involved. The investigation revealed that these officials were trying to affect the process of inquiry. According to the police, M3M also tried to hide the Gate Register and eradicate other evidence.

A case has been registered against Karamveer Singh and other M3M representatives, along with the Forest Department officials, under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Section 7, 12, and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 19 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900, in the Palam Vihar police station of Gurugram.

M3M officials were unavailable for comments.

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