HP: Forest employees for judicial inquiry into colleague's

The Himachal Pradesh forest employees federation today demanded a judicial inquiry into the mysterious death of a forest guard, who was found dead in the forests of Karsog in Mandi district on June 9.
It also threatened to launch a stir if any attempt is made to dilute the sections of the IPC in the FIR registered in connection with the death of forest guard Hoshiar Singh.
The employees gathered outside the forest office at Khalini here to pay homage to Singh and said that the "gruesome murder" has created a feeling of insecurity among the employees.
They also demanded awarding "martyr" status for Singh, stating that he sacrificed his life while saving the forests.

State Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri expressed sorrow over the death of the forest guard and said that an enquiry has already been ordered and in case any anti-social element was found involved in the incident, stringent action would be taken.
The principal chief conservator of forests has directed to complete the enquiry at the earliest, he said.
The minister refuted the allegations made by the BJP that "forest mafia" is active in the state and said that playing politics over such unfortunate incident is condemnable.
Talking about arming the field staff of the forest department, Bharmouri said that the home department has given permission to the forest staff to keep guns or revolvers and the fire-arms would be distributed soon to officials posted in sensitive ranges.