DHADING: As many as 11 persons including a furniture industrialist have been arrested on charge of illegally cutting down sal trees to run his business, from Nilakantha Municipality-11 of Dhading district on Saturday.

The owner of Bhangeridevi Furniture Udyog at Kuwapani has been identified as Ram Bahadur Thapa.

Acting on a tip-off, a team under the command of Assistant Chief District Officer Kshetra Bikram Khand deployed from the District Forest Office (DFO) detained Thapa along with 193 cubic feet sal timbers on Saturday, Chief DFO Ima Nath Paudel said.

He added that they were reported about the involvement of authorities of Khurpekhola Community Forest in the illegal business operated by the furniture industry on a regular basis.

Meanwhile, the investigation into the case is underway.

If Thapa is found guilty of the illegal business, he will face fines of double the value of the confiscated timbers estimated to be about Rs 153,632 and one year imprisonment, in accordance to the Section 49 of the Forest Act, 1993.