Gangapur police in Nashik have arrested six men, including the owner of an advertising agency, for cutting down 55 trees on the Gangapur Road median in the early hours of August 30. Police say the agency owner paid Rs 10,000 to have the trees removed because they blocked double-sided advertising boards mounted on street-light poles, the Free Press Journal reported.
The trees stood on the divider between Jehan Circle and Bendkule Nagar. According to Pudhari, they were Indian Christmas trees that the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) had planted for shade and to improve the look of the road. DCP Monika Raut told Aaj Tak the same thing, and that outlet put the trees at roughly 8 to 12 years old.
Who is accused, and of what
Police name Machhindra Vijay Deshmukh (44), who runs Namrata Advertising, as the man who arranged the felling. He allegedly hired Abhimanyu Khairnar (37), a Malegaon resident, to do the job. Four other men who allegedly worked with Khairnar are also in custody. A court remanded all six to four days of police custody.
An NMC official filed the complaint, and police registered the case on the evening of September 16. That is 17 days after the felling. Pudhari reports that a video of the cutting circulated on social media before police moved. Investigators are now tracing where the timber went and whether anyone else took part.
The charges come under Section 21(1) of the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act, Section 15 of the Environment Protection Act, Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, and sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The NMC has assessed its loss at about Rs 2.75 lakh, Sarkarnama and Pudhari report.
The civic link police are looking at
Deshmukh’s agency does advertising work for the NMC as well as for private clients. The Free Press Journal reports that investigators found Deshmukh and Khairnar made frequent visits to the NMC’s Garden Department, the same department responsible for the city’s trees, and allegedly had ties to contractors who handle tree work. Police have not said that any civic employee helped. None of the reports carry a response from the NMC.
The case also cuts against the corporation’s own contracts. The boards sat on NMC street-light poles, and an agency that works for the NMC allegedly destroyed NMC trees to make those boards easier to see. So far, none of the reports say whether the corporation will suspend or review the agency’s advertising permissions.
What the tree law allows
Maharashtra amended its urban tree law in 2021. The amendment replaced the old fine of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 with a penalty equal to the tree’s assessed value, capped at Rs 1 lakh per tree, according to the text of the amendment. Across 55 trees, the ceiling works out to Rs 55 lakh. The NMC’s own valuation of Rs 2.75 lakh suggests the actual figure will sit far lower.
The same amendment requires anyone given permission to fell a tree to plant as many saplings as the tree’s estimated age, each at least six feet tall. By that yardstick, replacing 55 trees aged 8 to 12 would take somewhere between 440 and 660 saplings. The law ties that rule to permitted felling, so whether a court or the NMC applies it here is an open question.
What it means for Nashik residents
Nashik is already arguing about trees. The plan to clear close to 1,800 trees at Tapovan for a Kumbh Mela Sadhugram has drawn protests and a court challenge, ThePrint has reported. The Gangapur Road case differs in kind. Tapovan involves a government project with a stated purpose. Here, police allege a private firm cleared public trees overnight for billboard sightlines.
The case also shows how these crimes get noticed. A night-time felling on a busy road went unreported for more than two weeks until a video spread. If you see trees being cut at night, or without a visible NMC permission notice, record it and report it to the Garden Department and your local police station on the same day.
What to watch
- Police custody ends around September 21. Watch whether investigators widen the case beyond the six.
- Any inquiry into the alleged Garden Department links, and whether the NMC reviews Namrata Advertising’s permissions.
- Whether the NMC orders the accused to pay for or carry out replanting on the median.
Sources: Free Press Journal, Aaj Tak, Pudhari, Sarkarnama, ThePrint
This report was written with AI assistance from the publicly reported sources linked here; each fact was cross-checked against at least two of them.