Seoni Malwa (Madhya Pradesh): A band of thieves felled a 40-year-old sandalwood tree and made off with its logs late Thursday night, the forest officials said.
The tree whose cost is nearly Rs 25 lakh was behind the house of a businessman in the city.
The house of the businessman Dharmendra Sarda is located on the main road near Tawa colony in Hoshangabad city.
Behind his house, there was a 40-year-old sandalwood tree. Sadra said that when his servant had gone to take fodder for cows on August 20 he saw that the tree was not there and a few branches and leaves of it were lying on the spot.
Sarda informed the sub-divisional officer of the forest department KS Sengar who inspected the spot.
The tree was nearly 50-foot tall and 38-inch round. The officials of the forest department said the cost of the tree was 25 lakh in the market.
There is a vacant plot of Mangesh Gupta beside his house and many workers live on that plot of land, said Sarda.
The thieves used ladder from that plot to scale the boundary wall of Sarda’s house, the forest officials said.
The thieves used a petrol-driven cutter machine to fell the sandalwood tree, the police said.
Sarda lodged a complaint about the incident on August 20.
