BENGALURU: The fraud and misappropriation squad of CCB have arrested a 32-year-old man, who had allegedly stolen red sanders and stored it in a godown Timber Layout in Byatarayanapura. Red sanders worth Rs 28.2 lakh has been recovered from the accused.

The accused has been identified as Varun Kumar, 32, a resident of Timber Layout in Byatarayanapura, off Mysuru Road. According to the police, CCB was on a high alert after the arrest of six people and seizure of red sanders worth Rs 36 crore in December 2014. They received information that Varun, a ghee seller, had also stored red sanders in the godown. They raided the godown and seized 940 kilos of red sanders worth Rs 28.2 lakh.

“When interrogated, he confessed that he along with absconding accused Ramesh had stored the red sanders for the last six months. They had stolen it from somewhere else and were selling it to private individuals. They did not have any licence from the forest department,” the police added. In addition it also came to light that Varun was selling adulterated ghee. Byatarayanapura police have registered two separate cases