Colonel, 30 jawans booked after 'terrorising villagers'

PUNE: The Khed police in rural Pune on Sunday registered an offence of unlawful assembly with armed and deadly weapons against a serving army colonel and 30 to 40 army jawans after a complainant accused them of entering a farm land, damaging crops and terrorising people at village Gulani, 54km from here off the Nashik highway, on June 22. The colonel is posted with the Artillery Centre in Hyderabad.
Police said the farm land is part of a 65-acre property and the incident appears to be a fallout of an ongoing ownership dispute between the colonel’s family and two other families.The names of members of these two families have been entered in the land records as owners of the farm where the incident allegedly occurred. A civil suit relating to the property is pending in the Khed sessions court since 2013 while an appeal is also pending before the sub-divisional officer, Khed.
On June 14, there was unrest involving the colonel’s father and brother on one side and members of the other two families and their supporters on the other. The police had then intervened to control the situation.
“On Saturday, the colonel brought 30 to 40 armed jawans in four military vehicles to the village (all the way from Hyderabad) and used a tractor to plough the disputed land where the soyabean crop had been sowed,” the police said, citing the FIR lodged by a woman member of one of the opponent families. The complainant also alleged that the colonel threatened and restrained her family from accessing the land.
While the complainant could not be contacted despite repeated attempts, the colonel, who has been on leave from before the incident, denied having committed any act as has been alleged in the FIR and maintained that the police complaint was a “conspiracy by the opponent families to frame him and malign the image of the army.”

Pune rural superintendent of police (SP) Sandeep Patil said, “All the jawans were in uniform and were armed when they reached the village in the military vehicles. They also accompanied the colonel and his family members to the disputed land. They stood guard around the land as the colonel’s family members ploughed it using a tractor. As of now, we have registered the FIR and will investigate further.”
Khed police inspector Arvind Chaudhari said, “Following the FIR, we are recording statements of all villagers and witnesses in connection with the alleged incident.”
The police have invoked sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 144 (unlawful assembly with armed and deadly weapons) and 149 (being part of an unlawful assembly with common objectives) of the Indian Penal Code.
TOI sent a detailed questionnaire relating to the alleged incident to Headquarters, Southern Command, in Pune. However, there was no official response to the queries till late on Monday night.
The colonel told TOI over the phone, “Our unit members had started by road from Hyderabad to the School of Artillery at Deolali camp near Nashik to attend firing drills. They took a halt at the Dehu Road ordnance depot near Pune to collect ammunition and, on the way to Nashik, they halted for lunch at my native village Gulani.”
“The jawans accompanying me had no role whatsoever in the matter as they did not commit any act nor did they threaten any villager,” the colonel said.
Asked how he could justify an unscheduled halt at his village when the unit was actually headed for Nashik, the colonel insisted that a halt is permitted.
Referring to the land, the colonel maintained that it is the only piece of ancestral property possessed by his family, including his father and brother, for the last 50 years. “The opponent families used my aunts and uncle and forged the death certificate of my grandmother to purchase the land for half its cost. They started threatening my father to hand over possession of the land. A case has been filed in the Khed sessions court against the forged deals and to claim the rightful share of my father. The sub-divisional officer has also not given any decision in a separate appeal.”
The colonel alleged that the opponent families connived with the local government officials and got their names entered in the 7/12 revenue extract relating to the land. “My brother has so far registered three FIRs but the police haven’t investigated them properly,” he said.
Referring to the dispute, Pune rural SP Patil said, “It is primarily a civil matter and the police have no direct role in it. So far, we have provided all help which we could whenever the colonel approached us. We also confirmed with the revenue officials that the names of the opponent families have been entered in the land records.”