FIR against Indian Army colonel and jawans for destroying farm in Khed

Complainant claims the officer is trying to intimidate her and force her to give up claim over a piece of land

Khed police have registered a case against an Indian Army colonel and around 30 to 40 jawans for allegedly unlawfully assembling and destroying soybean crops in Gulani village over a property dispute.

The accused have been identified as Colonel Kedar Vijay Gaikwad, who is posted with the artillery unit in Hyderabad, and over 30 jawans likely from Deolali in Nashik.

As per the complaint filed by Monika Ganesh Gade (26), around 30-40 gun wielding soldiers had alleged assembled in the village on Saturday. They mounted a tractor and ran it across a field having soya crop, the complainant said.

The complainant said that the issue stems from a disputed sevenacre land in the area. Gade had allegedly sold the land to a relative, Sunil Namdev Bharne. However, the accused colonel and another Parimal Vijay Gaikwad had opposed the sale. The matter had reached the sub-divisional magistrate who had ruled in favour of Bharne. A civil court had also directed both the parties to maintain a status quo when the first argument had taken place.

The complainant informed police that she got a distress call from a relative that some jawans had entered her farm. She saw a number of army vehicles parked near the village temple as she rushed to her field.

“We did not resist as Colonel Gaikwad was with armed soldiers. He staged this unlawful assembly to make our family give up our claim over the property,” Gade said in a statement given to police on Sunday.

The police, who were surprised by the allegation, later booked the accused under sections 143 and 149 for unlawful assembly, 144 for unlawful assembly with dangerous weapons of the Indian Penal Code and section 7 of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1983.

“We are probing the incident. We have also informed the army headquarters about this and we have learned that they too have started an inquiry,” said Pune rural police superintendent Sandip Patil.