Nightmare trip

techies

trespass

Western Ghats

Chennai Trekking Club

Shiradi Ghat

Karnataka Forest Act

for 14from Chennai; they are arrested forafter one of their group goes missingIt was an adventure that went terribly awry. What was meant to be a four-day trip trekking and ‘bonding’ with nature turned out to be a nightmare for a group of 14 techies from Chennai who were arrested by the Sakleshpur forest officials on Tuesday for trespassing inside the reserved forest area of Kabbinale near Bisle, located in the, 250 km from Bangalore.The first wrong notes were struck when one of the members -- Srikant Balaji, 24, -- went missing on Saturday, Day 2 of the trek. Srikant was part of the 14-member trekking team reportedly led by a Belgian national, Peter Van Geit who sent out an SOS to a friend in Chennai the moment (which was much later than he actually went missing) the team realised they were a member less. The team, which goes by the name of(CTC), mostly comprises employees of Infosys in Mahindra City, Chennai. They had even given the outing a name: Survival Monsoon Mission.After the SOS in the form of an email from Peter to his friend in Chennai -- one Dr Srikanth -- was forwarded by the latter to his friend, Manu Baligar of Roerich and Devika Rani Roerich Estate Board, the police and the forest officials were alerted and a search launched. Fortunately, all 14 were found safe and alive. Once the 'rescue' operation was successfully carried out, the entire team was booked and arrested for getting into a forest area which is strictly prohibited for human activity.However, rescue officials were in for a surprise. During the manhunt for the group of 14, the forest officials and police encountered a seven-member group from Bangalore in the prohibited reserve forest; the group became a collateral catch for the authorities.The CTC members had taken a train from Chennai to Bangalore on Friday, from where they boarded a bus to Sakleshpur and alighted at Kempahole reserve forest. After a six-kilometre walk inside the forest early on Saturday, the group reportedly decided to set up base camp at the bottom of Aramane Gudda, one of the highest peaks in. The forest area between Aramane Gudda and Kabbinale forest measures approximately 6,000 hectares, according to sources.A few hours into the trek, forest officials said the area experienced a heavy downpour and zero visibility due to dense fog. It was then that trouble began for Srikant Balaji, who, while walking in the tail-end of the group, reportedly stopped and bent down to pluck leeches off his legs. By the time he looked up, the rest of the trekkers were nowhere to be found. Srikant’s shouts for help went unheard and his visibility was hampered due to the inclement weather, resulting in his getting separated from the group.Meanwhile, Peter and the rest realised Srikant was missing only after they had stopped for a break. Peter reportedly moved around until he managed to reach an area where he got access to mobile network. Once it was established that Srikanth was indeed lost, Peter shot off an email to one Dr Srikanth in Chennai on Saturday evening, informing him that a member of their trekking team had lost his way.“We received information on Sunday that one techie from a 14-member team had got lost inside the Bisle forest. None of their phones were reachable, so we informed Balaji’s parents, who arrived in Hassan late on Monday and lodged an official missing complaint by midnight. However, we had already begun search operations by then because so many lives were at stake. The group had not informed any forest officials that they were entering the Bisle region, which is a reserved forest area. It is illegal for anyone to enter the forest at any time or perform any activities there,” Hassan superintendent of police, Ravi D Channanavar, told Mirror.Six teams comprising policemen, forest officials, and local guides with thorough knowledge of the area were formed to comb the ghats for the missing techie and the rest of the group. By 2:45 pm on Tuesday, officials had located all 14; with Balaji having been found in an almost-unconscious state in a remote forest area near Addahole.“We found Srikant wandering around in a daze, with no sense of direction and no idea where he was headed. He was physically alright, except for being exhausted and mentally drained. He told us he had walked nearly 20 km, crossed many rivulets and streams, and slept on tree branches at night for the past three days. We attended to his leech bites and dehydration, and he was brought to the rural police station where we registered an FIR against the entire group. They will most probably be produced before a magistrate on Tuesday night and might be granted bail,” said a senior forest official.“This is a 4 day/3 night exploration trek in the Western Ghats during the peak of monsoon. We will be covering approx. 80 km through the wilderness, thick jungle, steep slopes, difficult terrain, no trails, approx. 3000+m total ascent, challenging climbs and descents, fast pace, compact group of experienced and fit trekkers. It will be raining day and night, leeches will be sucking blood from your feet,” reads the registration page for the expedition.Interestingly, during their search for the Chennai party, the rescuers stumbled upon another group of trekkers in Kadumane Estate, hailing from Bangalore, who confessed to having trespassed and trekked in the reserve forest areas of Shiradi Ghat and Yedukumar forest over the past two days. The seven Bangaloreans taken into custody were identified as Patrick, Arun Karthik, Abhijit, Jijapal, Arjun, Subhash, and Madhukar.Forest officials have slapped both groups with cases under section 24 of the(acts prohibited in reserved forests). If convicted, the section attracts imprisonment of up to a year or a fine of Rs 2,000 or both.Appallingly, instead of turning around and retracing their steps immediately after realising their team member, Srikanth Balaji, had got separated from the group, the rest of the Chennai Trekking Club members reportedly went on their way and continued with the trek as planned. With the SOS email sent, the team probably thought Srikant would be traced sooner or later and, hence, must have opted to continue their expedition. Forest officials confirmed the team had been carrying enough food and water supplies to last them 4-5 days, with each person carrying a rucksack. Since Srikant had his backpack with him when he got lost, he did not face a shortage of food, sources said