Talking to ENS, DSP (Vigilance) Malwinder Singh Sidhu said the arrests were made on the complaint of former Hyatpur Sarpanch Arjun Singh and Nardev Singh, a member of the panchayat. The complainants accused the four of illicit felling of Khair trees in the area. In all, 8,000 Khair trees were razed, against the 1,700 trees approved by the Divisional Forest office. The accused had been allotted a contract of felling 1,700 trees through an auction.

According to Sidhu, the DFO had discovered the offence in 1994. Subsequently, the accused were penalized with Rs 2.18 lakh, of which only Rs 1.4 lakh were recovered. He said more arrests are likely to be made during further course of investigations. Sidhu had summoned Ramesh Dutt Sharma for interrogation today, but the latter did not turn up.

Reacting to the arrest of his son, Ramesh Dutt Sharma said, "All those arrested are committee congressmen and it is a case of political conspiracy against me." Sharma resisted the interrogation bid by Sidhu by terming the spate of arrests as political vendetta by his detractor in the ruling BJP. Sharma said, "My name does not figure in the FIR. There is no reason for anyone to question me,"and added that he was not even remotely associated with the firm in which his son is a partner.

Sharma's counsellor Rana K.P. Singh, who is also a District Bar Association president said all the provision laid down by the Supreme Court for the protection of the accused had been flouted in this case. He alleged that those arrested had not been given an opportunity to seek legal aid.