The Armed Police Force (APF) has suspended DSP Ram Prasad Bhandari and three constables on charge of smuggling timber in a vehicle of APF Arun Gulma based in Chainpur, Sankhuwasabha.

The suspended APF personnel are accused of smuggling over 100 cubic feet of timber worth around Rs 700,000 in an APF truck (Ba 1 Jha 1669) to Biratnagar via Dhankuta on June 4.

According to a source, DSP Bhandari, constables Binod Kattel, Milan Kumar Rai and Dipendra Kumar Karmakar have been suspended.

A probe committee was formed to investigate the matter under APF Eastern Region Barah Bahini Pakali SP Gunakhar Khanal.

However, APF headquarters replaced the SP Khanal-led committee by another probe committee under DIG Suraj Kumar Shrestha concluding that the prior committee worked against the organisational policies. The DIG-led panel in its report has said that the Khanal-led committee had disregarded its jurisdiction by not informing any of the progress made on the case.