Land encroachment bid foiled in Kherwadi, one held

Mumbai: The Kherwadi police has registered a case against a man for allegedly attempting to encroach a plot of land belonging to the state public works department (PWD) in Kherwadi. The Kherwadi police suspects that Rajesh Sable, the accused, is linked to a political party and is probing if he had used his contacts for encroaching the land.

Sable allegedly attempted to encroach the land on Saturday, as it was a holiday for PWD officials. However, a PWD supervisor spotted the encroachment attempt and informed the section engineer. Sable’s attempt was foiled as the police rushed to the spot and took the accused into their custody. “In a systematic manner, the construction of a commercial structure was underway on the land near the government colony in Bandra (east). He had arranged the construction material, and labourers had begun construction in a bid to finish it on the same day,” said Rajendra Patil, senior inspector of Kherwadi police station.  While the illegal construction was underway, a supervisor with the department spotted it and then informed assistant engineer N.V. Narkhede.

An official said Mr Narkhede rushed to the spot and sought for documents from Sable, asking him to stop the work.

The police seized construction material, and served a notice under section 44 (arrest by the magistrate) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). “We are gathering all the documents about the plot, to ascertain its actual size and market value,” said Mr Patil.

A case under sections 290 (public nuisance), 447 (criminal trespass), 34 (acts of common intention) and 353 (deterring a public servant from performing his duty) of the IPC has been registered against the accused.