Pramesh S Jain & Yogesh K Porwar
T
he city most trusted and heritage shopping centre famous among the tourists Cauvery Handicrafts Emporium,the commercial wing of the state-owned Karnataka State Handicrafts Development Corporation Ltd (KSHDCL),has been raided by forest department officials for its link with sandalwood smuggling racket.
The forest department officials also booked the management and escalating the ticket with the government with a recomnendation to cancel sandal permit to the emporium .
Following a tip off by the vigilance wing,officers led by Bengaluru Urban Deputy Conservator of Forests,N Ravindra Kumar raided the emporium and booked its manager Narayana Murthy along with one Gaurav Saragoi.
As per the rule customer who purchases less than 4 kg of sandalwood/sandalwood products does not need permit from the department for transportation of the same.
However, this rule was misused in such way that Saragoi supplied 435 kg of sandalwood over a period of six months.
The officials also found that Saragoi was bringing the material from Rajasthan In addition to the wood pieces, he supplied 105 kg sandalwood powder and 10 kg sandalwood oil which is violations said a senior forest conservator officer.
