Two detained for defacing

A team of Forest Department officials, led by Divisional Forest Officer, Kullu, B. D. Suyal and Forest Range Officer, Manali, Rajeev Sharma, caught two employees of the Malhotra Book Depot (MBD) yesterday, while they were defacing the surface of a rock.

They were erasing an advertisement of the company painted on the rock with the help of an eraser run on a generating set installed in a jeep, officials said.

The forest staff impounded the jeep, seized the generator and eraser and detained the two persons, including a driver, engaged by MBD to do the job. The seized goods along with the arrested persons have been handed over to the Manali Police for action under the Indian Forest Conservation Act, Suyal said.