The head of a forest protection committee was lynched on Friday for resisting the illegal felling of Sal trees in the Raikera Bandhtoli forest in Jharkhand.

The victim has been identified as Shamim Ansari, 42. He had headed the village protection panel, which aims at creating awareness on forest conservation, for over a decade and was also a special police officer, who keeps the police informed in Naxalite-affected areas.

“Ansari was a proactive forest protection panel member and used to inform us of any illegal activities done in forest areas. He gave me a call around 10am on Friday and said villagers have surrounded him for resisting tree felling. I asked him to immediately inform the local thana, which he did. But, before the police could reach, he was beaten to death,” said Shrikant Verma, the Gumla divisional forest officer.