Yet another instance of the timber mafia encroaching upon the rights of tribal people has come to light. Close to 100 trees on private tribal land were cut down in November 2002 in Chhattisgarh's southern district of Dantewada. The landowner, who died about a month after the felling, was paid a pittance for the timber that is estimated to be worth lakhs of rupees. This violates several special laws made to protect tribal people, who are unaware of the commercial worth of trees on their land. These rules have been flouted or circumvented time and again. Many such instances are known and documented.

The modus operandi of the fraud was first detected in the late 1950s in Madhya Pradesh, when the special laws were framed. In 1997, the Supreme Court (sc) heard what became infamous as the