After repeated complaints to Pune police yielded no results, locals Shivaji Maharaj 'bhakts' came down on group of young 'trekkers' who were allegedly drinking and smoking pot on the fort premises
Video grab of liquor bottles strewn across Rajmachi fort and youngsters smoking up at the spot
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Pune: On the one hand the government is spending crores to build a Chhatrapati Shivaji statue in the Arabian Sea and on the other one of the warrior king’s forts at Rajmachi has become a hub for addicts and goons. According to police sources, local shiv bhakts swooped down on a group of young trekkers from Mumbai on Saturday and recovered hookah and liquor bottles from them. While locals say it’s a common occurrence in the area, the youngsters managed to flee before cops could reach the spot.
Video grab of liquor bottles strewn across Rajmachi fort
The rising menace
According to police sources, on learning about a bunch of youngsters consuming alcohol on the fort premises, some shiv bhakts from the area reached the spot. "They asked the youngsters to leave immediately and intercepted their hookah supplies and alcohol bottles. One of the locals also filmed a video of the illegal activities at the fort and have submitted to us, along with the liquor bottles and hookahs," a police official said.
Locals allege that despite repeated endeavours to attract the attention of cops and civic authorities towards the rise in crime around this fort, no action has been taken yet. Shivprasad Sutar, a local resident and cab driver at an IT firm in Pune said, “We, locals, try to keep the fort premises free of illegal activities, but since the last four months, there has been a rise in the number of vandalism incidents. Young trekkers frequent this area and they pollute the space with their drugs, hookah and alcohol. They mostly spend the night in the fort and create nuisance, throwing liquor bottles across the area. We informed Archeological Survey of India (ASI) officials and cops on Saturday. But while ASI (Pune) officials claimed the fort does not fall under their jurisdiction, by the time cops reached the spot, the youngsters had fled."
Video grab of liquor bottles strewn across Rajmachi fort
Significantly, in a previous incident, on New Year’s Eve, a group of shiv bhakts had beaten up tourists at Lohagad fort for a similar vandalism attempt, following which cops had warned these bhakts from taking law into their own hands.
Copspeak
IS Patil of Kamshet Police station, which falls under the jurisdiction of Pune Rural Police station, said, “We know of the vandalism incident on Saturday, but by the time we reached the spot, the group had fled. Prima facie it seems the youth were IT sector employees from Pune. We are probing the incident. We plan to deploy police in the area to check such incidents."
SP Suvez Haque (Pune rural police) said, "I'm personally monitoring the situation and have directed my official to visit the area immediately. We have also contact ASI officials and sought their help to check the menace."
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