Illegal sand, equipment worth Rs 13 crore seized in Maha

A large stock of sand along with equipment worth Rs 13 crore, used in its illegal dredging was seized by the Thane district administration today.
The raid was conducted by the Thane district collector Ashwini Joshi this afternoon.
"I along with senior officials of revenue department travelled using boats from Mumbra upto Ganesh Ghat in Dombivili and in a surprise raid seized a large stock of sand, along with equipment worth Rs 13 crore", Joshi said.
As per an official release, since yesterday authorities have been conducting raids in Thane, Bhiwandi and Kalyan region.
During the raids, 6 suction pumps, 4 cranes, 124 brass of illegally excavated sand, 2 trucks and one tempo had been seized and as many as 8 cases registered, it said.

In the raid this morning, 42 suction pumps, 40 barges, 35 cranes, 28 pumps, 5 trucks and 131 brass of sand have been seized and cases registered at the respective police stations, the release added.

12 cement tanks meant for storing the excavated sand were also seized, it added.
Hatote told the court that police have received a
complaint in this regard from US and are working on it.
Thane Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh yesterday said the accused made the use of VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). "The reference number and registration number of the IRS officials of the US were brought in for the purpose. Thus, in this manner they extorted money," he said.

The daily turn over of these call centres was to the tune of nearly Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.50 crore, and the annual turn over could be well above Rs 300 crore.
Besides arresting 70 persons, Kashimira police booked another 630 people under IPC sections 384 (extortion), 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating) and under relevant sections of the IT Act and Indian Telegraph Act.
According to police, among over 12 persons who are absconding are two directors of Universal Outsourcing Services, namely Tapan Gupta and Arjun Vasudeo.