Surat: Adajan police arrested two men for illegally extracting clay from a vacant Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) plot in Pal, seizing two JCB excavators and five heavy-duty trucks worth Rs 1.60 crore.According to officials, the accused exploited the long weekend to enter the plot without permission. They excavated around 625 tonnes of clay over two days and sold it to builders across Surat.The complaint was filed by SMC West Zone (Rander) assistant engineer Siddharajsinh Bhabhor, who was alerted by a senior officer about illegal excavation at SMC plot no. 180 in TP Scheme 14 (Pal) near Casa Rivera Residency. Upon inspection on Jan 27, Bhabhor found the JCB excavators and trucks on site. The vehicles were traced to Jay Chamunda Carting, owned by Dipak Vanzara and Kamlesh Vanzara, who were subsequently arrested.Officials said the accused began excavation on Sunday and continued on Monday, a public holiday, taking advantage of the reduced oversight to extract the clay quickly.Police registered cases against the accused for theft and criminal trespassing under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and launched a probe to determine if similar illegal activities had occurred on other SMC plots.
