Ranchi, May 6 (PTI) A 45-year-old man, who headed a village forest protection committee in Jharkhand’s Gumla district, was killed by a group of men on Friday after he protested illegal felling of trees, police said.Shamim Ansari (45), the president of Raikera forest committee, was beaten to death in Bharno police station by men involved in illegal timber trade, they said."Ansari and a forest guard went to Raikera forest in the morning. Around 10.30 am, he called to inform me about seizure of logs. I asked them to be careful and inform the police. By 11 am, I got information that Ansari was brutally beaten to death with sticks by the villagers," divisional forest officer (DFO) Srikant Verma told PTI.Sub-divisional officer (SDO) Ravi Anand said that Ansari was beaten to death after he stopped some people from cutting trees.In January, a 32-year-old man was stoned to death, and his body was set on fire allegedly by a group of people in Simdega district on the suspicion that he felled trees to steal wood.The incident had occurred barely a fortnight after the Jharkhand Assembly passed the Prevention of Mob Violence and Mob Lynching Bill, 2021, which aims at providing "effective protection" of constitutional rights and the prevention of mob violence in the state.A fortnight later, a 60-year-old woman was set on fire by locals at a village in the Simdega on the suspicion that she practised witchcraft.In February, a 17-year-old boy was allegedly killed at Kariyadpur village in Barhi police station area of Hazaribag district during immersion processions after Saraswati Puja. PTI SAN NAM NAM SOM SOM