Mumbai, June 2: In a major demolition drive, a Sufi dargah in Aarey Colony was demolished on Tuesday amid tight security and heavy police deployment.
According to officials, the structure stood on land owned by the state's Dairy Development Department and had encroached upon a notified forest buffer zone, prompting authorities to take action.
According to locals, the Hazrat Syed Pir Baba Dargah in Unit 32 of Aarey Colony, Goregaon East, had been a landmark in the area for several decades. The shrine, located about 400 metres from Aarey Police Station, was embroiled in a long-running dispute and had previously faced demolition before being rebuilt and expanded.
On Tuesday morning, the authorities razed the structure using bulldozers and JCB machines.
Officials cite encroachment on government land
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 12) Gajanan Rajmane said, "The structure stood on government-owned land in Aarey Colony and was found to be an encroachment following verification of documents by the Aarey administration."
He said notices were issued to the concerned parties and sufficient time was granted for voluntary removal of the structure. As the encroachment remained, the administration sought police protection to carry out the demolition.
"We provided the necessary bandobast, and the operation was completed without any untoward incident or law-and-order issue," Rajmane said.
Political attention and recent clearance drives
Political scrutiny of the site intensified in April after BJP leader and former MP Kirit Somaiya inspected the area and sought immediate action against what he described as an illegal encroachment on government land.
In his April 9, 2026, letter to the Aarey Colony administration, Somaiya alleged that portions of land belonging to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park had been occupied in the name of the dargah.
The demolition at Aarey comes amid a series of major clearance drives across Mumbai in recent weeks.
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Earlier, the Railways demolished around 500 slum structures in Bandra East's Garib Nagar to facilitate a railway infrastructure project. On May 31, the BMC also razed 150 structures in Mulund's Amar Nagar and Khindipada for the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project.
Of the 384 structures identified along the project alignment, the remaining 234 residential and commercial units are slated for demolition in the coming week.
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