Forest Department raids Parimal Suklabaidya’s PSO Tushar Roy’s house; “Received no reports against him,” Minister

Some know him as the personal assistant of Minister Parimal Suklabaidya while some believe he is an officer on special duty. However, he is employed by the 6th Assam Police battalion and is deployed as the private security officer of Minister Parimal Suklabaidya. His current employment status is ambiguous as he makes different claims in public domain too.

Though he is employed by the 6th Assam Police battalion, he is hardly seen wearing the uniform of a Police constable. Who is he? Ujjawal Shankar Roy popularly known as Tushar Roy. A former SP used to address him as “SIR”. Darmikhal, Narayanpur resident, Tushar Roy is a powerful man. So powerful that he went and evicted people belonging to the tribal community and made a fishery. While he was doing so, the media reported it but no action was taken against Tushar Roy. This was back in 2019.

He is again making headlines. On December 17, Forest Range Officer of Monierkhal, Cachar Forest Division raided a timber depot registered against his wife Monisha Roy’s name. During the raid, the officials found that the depot has a 24 inch band saw machine. Such depots are only allowed to have band saw machines upto 10 inch. The machine was seized and the forest department continued raiding various areas where “Tushar Roy’s” goods are kept. For the freshers, the bigger the blade the heavier wood it can cut. “Keeping 24 inch band saw in such depots is completely illegal according to the law of the land,” said Forest Range Officer, Patowary.

Since then, officials from the Forest Department raided many other places including Tushar Roy’s own house in Kalyanpur, Darmikhal. If sources are to be believed, the district forest department has seized several items from these raids. At his house, Ranger S Patowary informed that 218 pieces of timber were found and out of them, 38 did not have valid documents. The District Forest Department has issued a notice to Tushar Roy to explain the possession of the seized items. If proper documents are not furnished, the department will initiate action and might even register a case.

DFO Cachar, Tejas Mariswamy refused to comment at this stage as it is “still under investigation.”

Officials in the Forest Department hinted that Patowary will soon raid the fisheries that “one Tushar Roy” has claimed in the Monierkhal Reserve Forest Area. Well, he is not “One Tushar Roy” but “the Tushar Roy” who has reportedly garnered benefits of several schemes rolled out by the State Fishery Department for a fishery that the department hints is unauthorised and claimed illegally.

His employer, 6th AP Battalion Commandant N. Rajamarthandan throws the ball at the court of Cachar SP, Ramandeep Kaur. Speaking with Barak Bulletin, he said, “If we get a complain from the district SP, we will ask him for an explanation and start the probe. We don’t have any reports against the said individual and without investigation, we will not be able comment.”

The question is, despite several raids and media reports, why didn’t any department register a case against Tushar Roy. As per sources, he is now running from post to pillar to secure backdated documents in order to prove that everything at his stock are legal. There are people supporting him too. In such a scenario, will he continue to have a safe haven and keep operating the way he is?

When asked about the recent chain of events involving Tushar Roy, Minister of Forest and Environment, Excise and Fisheries, Government of Assam, Parimal Suklabaidya replied, “Yes, the department has deployed him with me but as you all are aware, I just keep one individual attached with me not more than that. So, they work in shifts. Whatever is being said or done, I make it clear, no departments have ever officially or unofficially informed me about any wrongdoings involving him. Unless I am briefed officially, there is very little that I can say.”

So, the question remains, hours of television bulletins, pages of broadsheet coverage and yet, not a single report against one individual who is just a PSO. This is another narrative involving PSOs amidst all rosy PRish stories about politicians surrendering PSOs.