Dhanbad, May 9: Krishna Ballav Sahay is paying the price for blowing the whistle.

The forest department, which got the senior overman employed by Bharat Coking Coal Limited arrested on May 2, accuses him of having caused the death of a male deer in the BCCL park at Jogta. The BCCL grudgingly admits that Sahay?s ?official responsibility? did not include the upkeep of the park.

Sahay, 59, who is languishing in jail because the forest department is yet to submit a report to the court, believes he is a victim of conspiracy.

On April 6 this year, he claims to have officially reported rampant illegal mining in the Jogta area of Moonidih and recommended that the older mines be ?dossiered? (closed) to prevent large-scale illegal mining of coal.

His written report must have caused a stir because on April 17 he was threatened by some of the illegal coal traders and asked to behave. Sahay obliged, but his troubles were far from over.

On April 23, he wrote to the project officer that urgent medical attention was required to a male deer in the park. The same day, however, the deer died and Sahay took it to Topchanchi and buried it.

Two days later, officials from the forest department dug out the carcass and lodged a formal complaint against the general manager, the project officer and Sahay among others for causing the death due to negligence and for having flouted the provisions of the wildlife protection and preservation act.

The forest department also blamed the accused for not obtaining a licence to run the park. Significantly, the park was set up in 1987 when a licence was not mandatory but following amendments in the act in the early nineties, a license became compulsory. But if the Bharat Coking Coal Limited management failed to obtain a licence and flouted the law, why arrest Sahay? Why Sahay alone when other senior officers were also named co-accused?

Curiously, his son claims that Bharat Coking Coal Limited officials wanted him to convey that if Sahay took the rap for the deer?s death, the management would take care of the family.

Sahay is convinced that he is paying the price for daring to report illegal mining activities to the authorities. Everybody in Dhanbad, he points out, gets a share of the pie related to illegal trade and the stakes are high.

The Bharat Coking Coal Limited management, he said, neither took his report seriously nor did they react to his information that the deer needed medical attention. The fact that the forest department officials were accompanied by illegal coal traders to the deer park, has convinced Sahay of the nexus.

He waits for the court to grant him bail and face an uncertain future, the price he claims he is paying for blowing the whistle.

Earlier also, other conscientious officials have been harassed for spilling the beans on the illegal trade and the nexus between unscrupulous authorities and the mafia. ?It is nothing new. Sahay should have known better than to open his mouth. The nexus is well known and has become almost a tradition. If one wants to live in peace, it is better to keep quiet about such things,? said an official.