The Uttarakhand forest department has booked two temple officials for allowing a wedding to take place inside the Rajaji Tiger Reserve, sparking a row over the issue.
State cabinet minister Khajan Dass's son was set to get married at the Sureshwari Devi Temple in the Haridwar range of the reserve, but the forest department intervened and dismantled the wedding arrangements after photos and videos of the setup went viral on social media.
The forest department launched a probe into the incident and registered a case against the temple officials under the Wildlife Protection Act.
Minister Dass dismissed the row as a political conspiracy, claiming he had informed a senior forest official about the event and that arrangements were made with the temple committee's consent.
However, forest officials insisted that no permission had been sought for the event in the reserve's core zone.
