Pune: Thieves steal two sandalwood trees from Army officer’s bungalow

The ivestigation officer in this case, assistant police inspector P V Sangolkar said that a probe was launched. Police said there was no CCTV at the bungalow.

Unidentified persons had stolen a sandalwood tree from a bungalow in the plush Mitra Mandal colony in Pune on Wednesday. The bungalow’s owner lodged the FIR in this case at Parvati police station. Police said the sandalwood tree worth Rs 50,000 was chopped down completely and stolen around 4 am on Wednesday, at a time when the Ganesh immersion processions were on in the city.

Sandalwood thefts have become rampant in the city in the last couple of months.

Recently, unidentified persons had chopped and stolen three sandalwood trees from the sprawling premises of New Club (Poona) on the Rajendrasinghji Road in Pune Camp area between August 30 and September 4. An FIR about it was lodged at the Bundgarden police station on September 13.

In another incident, a five-member gang stole sandalwood logs worth Rs 15,000 from the Sushildatta bungalow at Adarsh Nagar in Market Yard area on August 23. In a similar case, a gang of about eight people had threatened a woman with sharp weapons and stole a sandalwood tree from near her residence on Prabhat Road on August 11.