The rise and rise of red sanders mafia

Seshachalam Hills, one of India’s richest biospheres, has become the hot spot of red sanders smuggling and allied crimes costing many police, forest officials and mafia members their lives apart from threatening the survival of the endangered tree species. Over the years, despite changes in the governments and people in power, the smuggling of the precious wood continues unabated, indicating that the problem is of a socio-economic-political nature, writes K. Umashhankar