Sandalwood trees worth 1L stolen from two places

Pune: Some people stole sandalwood trees collectively worth Rs1.05 lakh in two separate incidents —from an open plot on Mohammadwadi road and from Hingne near Karvenagar — on the night intervening Saturday and Sunday, police officers said. A 78-year-old office-bearer of a housing society in Karvenagar lodged a complaint with the Alankar police on Sunday night, stating that two men entered the society premises and cut a sandalwood tree. Assistant sub-inspector Mahesh Nimbalkar of the Alankar police told TOI, “The watchman of the society woke up and raised an alarm after spotting the two men stealing the tree.”“Residents of the society heard the watchman yell, and they, too, made loud noises to scare the men. The two men ran from the spot without the tree,” Nimbalkar further said. The officer said the society does not have CCTV surveillance, but the watchman was alert. “The two men ran towards DP road,” he added. In another incident, unknown men stole fully grown sandalwood trees and other fruit trees from an open plot located in Mohammadwadi in Hadapsar on the same night. Local resident Asif Sayyed (37) lodged a complaint with the Wanowrie police in this regard on Monday. According to the police, the thieves walked into the open plot to cut the trees. “They took full-grown sandalwood trees worth Rs95,000 and damaged various other fruit trees. The area does not have CCTV surveillance,” an officer of the Wanowrie police said.