This is the moment an 85-year-old woman breaks down in tears beside the stump of a tree she had cared for since she had planted it as a sapling only to find it had been cut down for timber.

The incident happened in the village of Sara Gondi in Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai district, in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, with footage shared by Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on 11th October.

Video shows the elderly woman crying bitterly and resting her head against the trunk of the felled Peepal tree - a type of fig tree considered sacred in some religions like Hinduism.

Locals said she planted the seedling decades ago and tended to it daily, watering and worshipping it as part of her faith.

Villagers reported that the tree was illegally cut down for its timber.

A complaint filed at Khairagarh police station alleged that two men, identified as Imran Memon and Prakash Kosre, were behind the felling.

Officers said the suspects cut down the Peepal tree using a machine before fleeing and even throwing the equipment into a river in a bid to hide their crime.

Both men were later arrested and charged under India’s new criminal code for illegally cutting down the trees.

Villagers have since planted a new Peepal sapling in the same spot in memory of the old tree.

(Dushko Kochoski/ newsX)