Entire hillock stolen from Satara; Trail leads to smugglers in Buldhana

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

Driven purely by greed for money, a large natural hillock was completely destroyed. The troubles of Satara’s former deputy sarpanch, Ayub Khan Jabbar Khan Pathan (resident of Satara), who allegedly sold murum, have deepened. After completion of his initial five-day police custody, the court on Tuesday extended his police custody by another six days. With this, there is a strong possibility that influential individuals involved in financial transactions with Ayub Khan may also come under the scanner.

There was a large hillock on land bearing gut no. 247 owned by Ayub Khan. However, he allegedly completely destroyed it for the sale of murum. Thousands of brass of minor minerals, including murum, soil, and stones, were illegally extracted and sold. Satara village resident Shabbir Jabbar Pathan lodged a complaint with the Satara police. Acting on the request of police inspector Krishna Shinde and police sub-inspector Dilip Bachate, circle officer Shekhar Shinde from the Additional Tehsil Office conducted a spot inspection and prepared a panchnama on December 4. The inspection revealed that an entire hillock spread across nearly 5 to 6 acres of agricultural land had been destroyed.

Police custody extended by six days

Serious questions have been raised as the Revenue Department allegedly indirectly refused to initiate action despite official correspondence seeking criminal proceedings in the minor mineral theft case. The police registered a case against Ayub Khan, with the government as the complainant, and arrested him. On December 19, the court had remanded him to five days of police custody, which was extended by six more days on Tuesday. The police will now investigate who assisted Ayub Khan, who provided the machinery, who else in the city is involved in the racket, and whether similar hillocks have been destroyed elsewhere.

Trail leads to Buldhana

The investigation has revealed that machinery required to completely flatten the hillock was provided by sand and murum smugglers from Buldhana. Additionally, an agent from Kiradpura is also believed to be involved, and a search is underway to trace him.

Hillock destroyed over 12 years

According to technical assessment, the hillock was approximately 120 feet high. Ayub Khan allegedly began destroying it in 2011. In 2021–22, he was granted permission to sell only 2,100 brass of murum, which he officially supplied to L&T Company. However, the police suspect that over a period of 12 years, he destroyed the hillock and sold more than 15,000 brass of minor minerals illegally.