Dhangadhi, April 3 -- Sudurpaschim province's Minister for Industry, Tourism, Forest and Environment Laxman Kishore Chaudhary was forced to resign on Saturday after an audio recording surfaced, exposing his involvement in a scheme with timber smugglers to harvest sal (shorea robusta) trees for financial gain. The leaked conversation, which emerged about a week ago, revealed that Chaudhary was in discussions with former forest minister and CPN-UML politburo member Narad Muni Rana, along with several unnamed timber traders, to orchestrate a large-scale deforestation in an organised manner.

Following the scandal, Chief Minister Kamal Bahadur Shah instructed Chaudhary, who represented Nagarik Unmukti Party in the provincial Cabinet, to step ...