A Kerala forest official conjured a false case of illegal felling to discredit a junior with jurisdiction over the area, and to kill a probe into a genuine timber scam the junior had unearthed elsewhere, an inquiry by a senior forest officer has found.

The controversy has pushed the Pinarayi Vijayan government on the back foot over its failure to punish the official indicted — Wayanad conservator of forests N.T. Sajan — and over the chief minister inviting to his Onam lunch a journalist accused of colluding with Sajan.

The June 29 probe report by the additional principal chief conservator of forests (forest, land and resources), Rajesh Ravindran, implies Sajan was trying to save those whom his junior, range forest officer Sameer M.K., had nailed for illegal felling in Muttil South village in Wayanad.

Ravindran says the regional head of News24 Malayalam channel, Deepak Dharmadam, deliberately played up Sajan’s false case about felling in Manikunnumala, part of the same Meppadi forest range in Wayanad.

“They (the Muttil accused) orchestrated the whole episode to perfection and through Shri Deepak Dharmadam got to Shri N.T. Sajan using his office to their benefit in threshing a story the way they wanted it scripted,” Ravindran’s 18-page report, leaked to the media on Wednesday, says.

Three timber merchants — brothers Roji Augustine, Anto Augustine and Josekutty Augustine — were arrested in late July in connection with the Muttil felling.

But the government ignored Ravindran’s recommendation of disciplinary action against Sajan and, instead, transferred him to Kollam on August 9, inviting criticism from the Opposition.

Deepak posted a Facebook picture of himself with Vijayan at the recent Onam lunch at the chief minister’s home, fuelling further controversy. The channel suspended him after Ravindran’s report was leaked on Wednesday.

It had all begun with a state government order in October 2020 allowing owners of land on forest fringes — mostly tribal people — to cut any tree barring sandalwood.

The timber mafia saw their chance and allegedly felled hundreds of trees, estimated to be worth at least Rs 15 crore, in Muttil South between October 2020 and February 2021, when the government revoked the order.

Villagers complained to Sameer the mafia had cut down more trees than agreed — while paying them much less per tree than promised — and even felled trees on public land deeper within the forest.

In February, Sameer banned the transport of whatever felled logs remained in Muttil, and confiscated 54 rosewood logs that had been ferried to a sawmill in Ernakulam, 250km away, in violation of his order.

According to Ravindran, Sajan ignored the matter and, instead, cited “secret” information to begin an inquiry into the fictitious logging of teakwood in Manikunnumala — apparently to discredit Sameer whose is assigned to protect the entire forest range.

Just an hour after Sajan informed divisional forest officer P. Dhanesh Kumar about the Manikunnumala investigation on February 10, Deepak called Kumar and asked him “to immediately launch an inquiry” into the matter, Ravindran’s report says.

It says there’s no substance to the Manikunnumala case. It adds that call data records show Deepak had called Roji and Anto Augustine 107 times while Sajan called them 86 times between February 1 and March 31.

In a Facebook message, quoted by channels, Deepak has said: “I have not supported any corruption.”

Sajan has not been available to the media for comments.

When the media got wind of the Muttil South scam in June and began playing it up, the state government directed the inquiry by Ravindran and also started a police probe by a special investigative team. The SIT arrested the Augustine brothers in July.

On Thursday, leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan accused the chief minister of intervening to save Sajan.

“The forest minister (A.K. Saseendran) had told the Assembly and me personally that he would take action. But the chief minister rejected the order,” he told The Telegraph.

“A senior forest officer committed a crime to frame his upright subordinate. Yet the chief minister is silent and continues to protect the corrupt.”

Environmentalist C.R. Neelakandan said Deepak’s picture with Vijayan reflected how well connected he was.

“One must realise that the chief minister invited him to the Onam lunch even after his name cropped up in Ravindran’s report,” he said.

CPM state committee member A.K. Balan said the government would not protect anyone found guilty in the scandal.