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2 sandalwood trees stolen from Pune lawyer Asim Sarode’s office premises; probe on

The trees were allegedly stolen from near the Deccan Gymkhana area in Pune. Though the spot is not covered by CCTV cameras, a youngster in the locality managed to take a video of the sandalwood theft, the lawyer said.

2 min readPuneJan 19, 2026 11:18 AM IST

Lawyer Asim Sarode said the trees were stolen around 4 am and people residing nearby had heard the trees being felled.

The Pune police have launched an investigation after unidentified individuals allegedly stole two sandalwood trees from the office premises of prominent lawyer Asim Sarode near Deccan Gymkhana early on Monday.

On receiving information about the incident, a team from the Deccan police station visited the spot. Girisha Nimbalkar, Senior Police Inspector at the station, said, “We have spoken to lawyer Asim Sarode for lodging a First Information Report (FIR) in connection with the sandalwood theft incident.”

Sarode said the trees were felled and stolen around 4 am and people residing nearby had heard the trees being cut down. “The spot is not covered by the CCTV cameras in our office, but a youngster has taken a video of the sandalwood theft from a building nearby. It shows four people leaving the place with the sandalwood logs in a four-wheeler,” the lawyer said.

“Roads in the area are closed due to the Pune Grand Tour 2026 cycling race. The FIR will be filed later in the day,” he added.

Asim Sarode is known for taking up cases related to human rights violations and is vocal about his anti-BJP, RSS stand. He was among the activists who had launched the “Nirbhay Bano” campaign against the BJP during the Lok Sabha elections.

Previously too, there have been multiple reports of thefts in the Deccan Gymkhana area and surrounding places. In the early hours of August 11, 2024, a gang of about eight people stole a 70-year-old sandalwood tree from the premises of a bungalow in Bharati Nivas colony, Erandwane, in the Prabhat Road area.

The huge noise created while felling the tree woke up the bungalow’s residents who rushed to the spot. The thieves, however, threatened to kill them by pointing sharp weapons before escaping. The FIR in this case was also lodged at the Deccan police station.

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On October 22, 2024, thieves who were stealing sandalwood from the premises of an old, unused bungalow on Abhinav School Road in Erandwane attacked police personnel, injuring one of the officers. Subsequent investigation led to the arrest of a gang of sandalwood thieves.

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