Rajasthan Forest and police officials raid godown which supplied sub-standard sandalwood products to Cauvery Emporium

The Rajasthan Forest Department officials along with the local police have raided a godown in Jaipur and recovered over 100 kg of sub-standard sandalwood chips, dust, and oil which, according to the officials, are being supplied to Cauvery Emporium, Bengaluru in the garb of authentic Karnataka sandalwood products. 

The raid was carried out based on information provided by the Karnataka Forest Department officials, following their raid on Cauvery Emporium last week.

“The accused running the shop in Jaipur did not have a proper licence to sell sandalwood products, and did not have a GST number either,” said Arijit Banerjee, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Rajasthan. 

“Even though Rajasthan is not a sandalwood growing State, the accused would grow sandalwood trees on a farmland. This is called weed sandalwood, which is much lower in quality than that grown in Karnataka. However, the accused in Rajasthan used to supply this weed sandalwood to Cauvery Emporium through a Uttar Pradesh agent, branding it as authentic Karnataka sandalwood. This is not only cheating the State government by compromising the State’s brand but also customers and local farmers and artisans,” a senior forest official from Karnataka said. 

The U.P. agent runs a garment shop near Cauvery Emporium and has a understanding with the manager of the emporium. He has been operating the racket for the past five months, supplying four to five kilos of sub-standard sandalwood products from Jaipur in one transaction, said sources.

The accused would buy the products made of weed sandalwood from the source for ₹2,000 per kilo and sell it to the manager for ₹15,000. The manager would in turn sell the product to customers for ₹35,000 per kilo, sources said. 

“The accused misused loopholes in the law and used to get only limited quantities of sandalwood from Rajasthan by road everyday. This was to avoid undue attention and also an attempt to evade the law,” Ganesh V. Thadagani, Assistant Conservator of Forest, Karnataka Forest Department, said. 

The manager of Cauvery Emporium and the agent both were arrested in the case, but are out on bail. Meanwhile, the Rajasthan Forest Department has also joined the probe to ascertain the network of this gang.