Mumbai: Men posing as civic staff chop off branches, 4 held

Four people were arrested andthree are wanted for allegedly chopping off branches of treesto improve the visibility of advertisement hoardings in southMumbai, police said on Monday.

The men came wearing uniforms and reflective jacketssimilar to the ones of civic staff in the metropolis, and, onFebruary 3, chopped off branches of a 25-year-old gulmohurtree near a bungalow on Walkeshwar Road and later cut branchesof two banyan trees and a fig tree close to Chagan Mithapetrol pump near Mahalaxmi temple, a Gamdevi police stationofficial said.

''We arrested four people on Saturday and are on thelookout for three others who sub-contracted branch-choppingwork to the quartet. The arrested persons were identified asSamir Qureshi, Shafique Darjee, Hiralal Darshan and Parvezalias Chinu,'' he said.

Gamdevi police station senior inspector PiyarelalRajbhar said probe was underway to find out who was behindthis move to chop tree branches, adding that involvement ofBMC officials, if any, will also be looked into.

A banyan tree was cut down in Bandra Bandstand onFebruary 3 and people's condemnation tweets tagging ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackeray led to state environment ministerAaditya Thackeray visiting the site the next day, officialssaid.

Police said cases under sections 379 (theft), 170(personating a public servant) 171 (wearing garb or carryingtoken used by public servant with fraudulent intent) of IPCand provisions of Environment Act have been registered.