MP Simha’s brother gets bail in tree felling case

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The brother of BJP MP from MysuruKodagu Pratap Simha, Vikram got a bail in the illegal tree felling case on Monday.

Vikram complained of discomfort and high blood pressure, following which he was released.

“Truth has won in the court. You (media) have also extended cooperation in getting me justice. I’m very happy. I was in possession of the land to grow crops. However, I have landed in a political conspiracy,” Vikram said.

He has maintained that he hadn’t chopped off trees but had used the land to grow ginger.

Forest department officials from Bengaluru claimed that Vikram chopped off 126 trees in a wooded area of Hassan district and then smuggled and sold off the timber.

Minister for Forest and Ecology Eshwar Khandre echoed the claims of the forest department officials, alleging that Vikram had violated laws such as the Forest Conservation Act and Tree Conservation Act.

The issue reportedly came to light when a Revenue Department official came across the land which is set aside as a pasture and saw that it was missing trees.

Vikram and his brother Pratap have called the arrest politically motivated. Pratap himself had a case registered against him for insulting Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as lazy.

He is also in the eye of the storm for issuing passes to attend the Lok Sabha proceedings to two individuals.

They had jumped down from the gallery and set off smoke canisters and shouted slogans, apparently to stage a demonstration against unemployment. The incident occurred on December 13.