Silchar, May 30: An eight-member team from the office of Assam’s forest department in Guwahati has reached Patherkandi block in Karimganj district to probe into allegations of land-grabbing by the forest mafia allegedly in connivance with members of the ruling Congress.

The team, which arrived five days ago, has begun its investigations.

Though the district forest office in Karimganj town and the district administration know about the land-grabbing, no action has been taken against the mafia simply because the loot is allegedly shared by leaders of the Congress.

Sources in Karimganj district said the mafia had been active in these reserve forests for more than seven years now. They said particularly one powerful minister from the district is directly involved in the land-grab.

The sources alleged that goons enjoying the patronage of this minister from the south Karimganj area on its border with Bangladesh have denuded 130 hectares of land under Patheria reserve forest range with the forest officials looking the other way to set up a rubber plantation there. They added that saplings have already been planted on the plot.

An insider in the Karimganj forest office said the land mafia was also trying to evict nearly 300 families who were living inside the forest near the site where the illegal rubber plantation was to come up.

These villagers have appealed to the National Human Rights Council (NHRC) seeking justice.

Their problems were highlighted by Shipra Gun, a BJP leader from Karimganj district and secretary of the BJP Mahila Morcha at the national level where she took up the issue along with Smrity Irani, the president of the party’s women’s wing. The two leaders met Union forest and environment minister Jayanti Natarajan in New Delhi last month.

The women’s team had also met the director-general of forests Dilip Kumar there and these meetings set the ball rolling for a probe into the racket.

The source said this probe team was hand-picked by Assam’s chief conservator of forests, B.K. Bishnoi, and is being led by a senior official of the state forest department headquarters, D.K. Das.

An in-depth investigation into the plunder of resources inside the reserve forest in Patheria and Dohalia in Karimganj district could take at least two months, he added.