59kg red sandalwood seized from man in Kothrud

Pune: A 30-year-old man was arrested from Paud Road in Kothrud on Saturday after 59kg of red sandalwood worth Rs3.6 lakh was recovered from the boot of his car.

The suspect was identified as Rahul Ingle from Bhugaon in Mulshi taluka and was arrested by the Pune crime branch.

The probe revealed that Ingle had purchased the red sandalwood from one person in Telangana. He was planning to sell it to a customer he had in New Delhi.

The crime branch (unit-I) team led by inspector Nitin Bhosale Patil arrested him after they received a tip-off from police constable Irfan Momin.

Sub-inspector Harshal Kadam told TOI that the police got information on Saturday afternoon about a red hatchback car which was halted on Paud Road. It was being used for illegally transporting red sandalwood.

“We rushed to Paud Road and saw the car. We took the driver Ingle into custody for further questioning,” Kadam said.

The officer said that when the team first asked him to open the boot of his car, he was not ready to do so. “When we opened the boot we found 10 wooden logs packed in paper,” he said. “When we questioned him about the logs, Ingle revealed it was red sandalwood which he had purchased from Hyderabad,” the officer added.

Kadam gave more information about Ingle saying he is into online trading of agricultural products.

“He got in touch with the person from Hyderabad through a website. Ingle purchased the red sandalwood from him. He was preparing to sell it to a client in New Delhi,” Kadam said.

The police also seized the car which Ingle used for transporting the red sandalwood.

The Kothrud police said a case has been registered against Ingle.

Assistant inspector Pratibha Dhotre is investigating the case.