Botanical Garden director surrenders before court

Girija Shankar Giri, who had a warrant issued against him after he failed to respond to the summons served on him on July 6, surrendered before the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Howrah and was granted bail immediately.

The indiscriminate cutting of the trees came to the fore when environment activist Subhash Dutta lodged a complaint at Shibpur police station alleging that over 100 trees of rare variety had been chopped to make way for a children's park.

The state Forest Minister immediately ordered an inquiry into the incident which took on further urgency when Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee intervened.

A three-member division bench of the Calcutta High Court after finding the explanation of Giri for the felling of trees unsatisfactory formed a three-member committee. The summons followed the submission of the committee's report.