As part of the initial drill of the Indian Forest Service, I was made officer in-charge of a forest range for three months and posted to the Wayanad Forest Division in Kerala. I had barely completed 15 days in my range when one day I was called by the Divisional Forest Officer to the headquarters 50 kilometres away. There was some information that ganja (Cannabis sativa) was being cultivated deep inside the forest in my range. After discussion, it was decided to organise a raid to locate and destroy the plants. A team of 30 forest staff including range officers from neighbouring ranges, foresters and forest guards was constituted for the job and a date was fixed for the operation. An officer one year senior to me was made the team in-charge.
On the appointed day, we all travelled in six jeeps starting from the headquarters at 4 a.m. After one hour of road travel, we got down at a spot near the forest fringe where six tribal people were waiting for us. These were the people who had seen the ganja cultivation spot earlier and tipped off the department. The raid party, along with the guides, started the trek on a path that was very strenuous as it was a steep climb through evergreen forests.
After nearly three hours of brisk climbing, we stopped for a breakfast of plantain and oranges that we carried in our bags. Fifteen minutes later, we were trekking again. On reaching a fork on the trek path around 11 a.m., the tribal people guiding us were not very sure of the way. By this time, we must have covered around 25 kilometres on foot, though there were no means to verify it. The team leader then decided to split the raid party so that two teams could proceed separately along both the paths to avoid leaving anything to chance. The forest was so dense that soon we lost the sight and sound of the team that went the other way.
Forty-five minutes of further climbing brought my team to an elevated spot on a hill slope and we confronted a scary view. From this point, we all could see down below a big clearing created by felling huge trees inside the forest where ganja had been cultivated and the crop was almost due for harvesting. I could see two people plucking ganja leaves and another beefy chap, probably their leader, sitting on a machan and cleaning his country gun. They were all oblivious to our presence as we were still more than 50 metres away and up on the slope. We kept on waiting and watching to find out the number of offenders at site. As I did not know Malayalam, I was not aware of the discussion carried out in whispers by the team leader with other members. We cautiously moved closer and gradually formed a chain partially encircling the clearing. I had absolutely no clue what would happen next.
All of a sudden, loud whistles shattered the peace of the forests. It was a cue to our team to charge ahead simultaneously and I saw all the forest staff rushing towards the cultivated spot howling at the top of their voices. I followed suit blindly. I was really at my wit’s end when I heard two gunshots one after another. My first impression was that we were under fire by the encroachers. It was only later that I learnt that the shots were actually fired by our team to let it be known to the culprits that we were sufficiently armed and in good numbers.
However, by the time we reached the actual spot, scrambling through thick vegetation and jumping over felled trees, all the forest offenders we saw earlier ran out of sight. All around there was thick forest and it would be impossible to find the culprits. Luckily, one forest guard spotted one of them hiding in a thick bush nearby. The man was pulled out and mercilessly beaten. There was a lot of commotion and chaos with many staff joining the thrashing with gusto. All of a sudden, the hefty person, who was earlier seen clearing a country gun, also got spotted and was pulled out from heavy undergrowth by another forest guard. However, this man took out a knife and stabbed his own chest and collapsed on the ground.
We were all stunned as the ring leader lay bleeding. Knowing that if he died in our custody, it would create a lot of complications for us, everybody calmed down and the fellow was given first aid. Somebody squeezed the oranges we carried for ourselves and fed him the juice to energise him. With hindsight, it looks so hilarious that in a moment, the accused turned into a cherished guest to be looked after well.
After getting convinced that the injured person was going to survive, we all set upon uprooting the ganja plants. It was already 5 p.m. by now and trekking back in the night would be treacherous while wild animals roamed around. We stayed the entire night huddled together in the small temporary hut built by the encroachers. For dinner, we ate kanji (rice gruel) made out of rice belonging to them and garnished with wild ginger.
Early next morning, we started burning the uprooted ganja plants. Around 9 a.m., we were overjoyed when the second team joined us bringing with them three poachers arrested by them. The other team had actually lost their bearings, on account of the thick vegetation, after we parted ways despite the help of the three local tribal guides. This team had their own adventure when they chanced upon the poachers cooking meat of a Nilgiri langur.
It was noon by the time we burnt everything and got ready to return. I marvelled at the jungle craft of the tribal people who made a stretcher out of bamboo and fibres to carry the offender who had stabbed himself the previous day. There was no way that he could walk back on his own. We made use of the arrested persons as palanquin bearers for our injured “guest” and trudged back all the way reaching our jeeps by late evening.
All our drivers were relieved to see us back as they had not expected our previous night halt in the forest and were worried about our safety. We handed over the arrested persons to the police in order to book them under the stringent Narcotic Drug and Psychotropic Substance Act. By then, we were all famished, covered with soot, sweat, mud and our own blood that was sucked by leeches merrily while we had waded through dense vegetation and numerous streams. After 36 hours of an action-packed emotional drama, I took a bath, ate a hearty meal and went to a well-earned sleep.
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