MP Drug Traffickers' Rs 100 Crore Mansion Razed
High value properties, including a three-storey 30-room mansion built over an area of around 15,000 sq ft in Bhopal, of a family accused of drug trafficking, have been razed to ground after being termed as encroachment of government land.
Bhopal: High value properties, including a three-storey 30-room mansion built over an area of around 15,000 sq ft in Bhopal, of a family accused of drug trafficking, have been razed to ground after being termed as encroachment of government land.
The properties of the ‘Machli family’ who built a fortune from fishing business started in 1983 came under scrutiny of the crime branch of Madhya Pradesh police after its two members, Shahwar Machli and his nephew Yasin, were arrested on charges of drug trafficking last month.
Three grams of MDMA drug and a country-made pistol were allegedly recovered by the crime branch during searches in the properties owned by them.
The Opposition Congress took the opportunity to corner the ruling BJP by claiming that some members of the family have close links with a BJP leader. The party also released photographs to substantiate its claim.
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav promptly declared that stern action would be taken against criminal activities involving ‘love jihad’ and drug trafficking.
A couple of days after his assertion to act against the drug mafia and ‘love jihadists’, the civic officials on Thursday landed at the sprawling mansion of the Machli family at Kokta Hathaikheda on the outskirts of Bhopal with heavy machineries to demolish the three-story palatial house, built on 15,000 sq ft.
It took almost six hours to raze the mansion which has large halls, marble-floored terraces, a park, a garage and children’s play area, besides 30 rooms.
The mansion was built in 1990, civic officials say. Around 10,000 sq ft in the property was built illegally on encroached land, a civic officer said.
The civic officials claimed that the family had encroached upon nearly 70 acres of government land, where they constructed three farmhouses, a warehouse, a factory, a madrasa and several shops.
Last month, six such structures built on ‘encroached’ land were demolished and on Thursday, the remaining one was razed to the ground.
The encroached lands, cleared by the civic officials, were valued at around Rs 100 crore, officials said.
