The family of the deceased forest guardChennai: Many get-rich-quick artistes in Tamil Nadu have dabbled in sandalwood smuggling before branching out to more lucrative "trades". Some even join politics.Thus there was little surprise when reports appeared late last year about the alleged involvement of a ruling DMK MLA Shanmugham in sandalwood smuggling from the Jawad Hills in Tirupattur. When Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi came out in the open to deny the involvement of his party MLA in the nefarious trade, there were more leaks in local newspapers that suggested otherwise. Although the state crime branch police has given a clean chit to the MLA, the high court ordered a CBI inquiry into the matter following a public interest petition.The CBI conducted an inquiry on May 12 in which a detailed statement was obtained from a forest guard, Vijayan, who was part of the police raid party that seized 810 kg of sandalwood and a Maruti van on January 31 last year. Vijayan died the day he gave the statement to the CBI. According to the chief minister, Vijayan was knocked down by a speeding lorry, but family members and the opposition AIADMK leaders believe that he was bumped off to prevent him from making any more disclosures or substantiating them in the court later. Clearly, more worms are likely to come out of the can in the days to come..preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}Published By: AtMigration Published On: Jun 8, 1998--- ENDS ---
