On Wednesday, six persons were booked by Azad Maidan police for allegedly extracting groundwater illegally from the premises of a housing society and selling it in the market.
According to Indian Express, the accused, who had illegally dug two wells inside the housing society, allegedly made Rs 73.18 crore by selling the groundwater over the years. The incident came to light in March after complainant Sureshkumar Dhoka lodged a complaint with Azad Maidan police about water being stolen from wells, which have been dug inside the compound of Pandya Mansion without necessary permits.
“Owner of the mansion Tripuraprasad Pandya was drawing water illegally and selling it through water tanker operators,” Dhoka said, adding that Pandya had even obtained illegal electricity metres to draw water through pumps. Readings of these illegal metres revealed that between 2006 and 2017, the accused had allegedly stolen lakhs of litres of water worth Rs 73.18 crore, he said. The complainant has collected all the information related to these wells through Right to Information Act.
An offence under sections 379 (theft) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code was registered against Tripuraprasad Pandya, his son Prakash Tripuraprasad Pandya, his relative Manoj Pandya and tanker operators Arun Mishra, Shrawan Mishra, Dhiraj Mishra and other concerned persons at Azad Maidan police station.
