Pushpa: The Rise, the blockbuster movie, is giving rise to many wannabe Pushpas, much to the police’s annoyance! In many states like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, criminals have fallen into the cops’ net after trying to copy the hero’s modus operandi in the film to smuggle red sander wood under the noses of the police. However, these wannabes, who wanted to be a hero like the protagonist ‘Pushpa’, ended up being a big zero!
The movie is an action thriller and portrays somewhat unrealistic ways of smuggling rare and expensive wood across states to be exported to faraway countries. But it leaves its own side effects, as was seen in a few cases where several criminals tried to become ‘Pushpa’ by attempting to smuggle rare wood across states but ended up behind bars in Shamli, Maharashtra, Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, and in New Delhi.
Indian Masterminds spoke with IPS officers Akash Tomar (SSP) and Preeti Yadav of Saharanpur as well as IPS officer Harendra Singh, the DCP of Delhi Railways Police, to know the whole stories of the real-life smugglers who tried to copy reel life methods but failed miserably because of an alert police force.
CAUGHT RED HANDED IN DELHI
Around 2 pm on February 3, a Railway Police team noticed a person moving around in a suspicious manner near Gate No. 1, Paharganj side, New Delhi Railway Station, carrying a blue colour trolley bag. On questioned by the police team about the contents inside the bag, he gave evasive replies.
“His bag was checked, and one red colour log was recovered. To identify the recovered log, District Forest Range Officer was called to the spot, who identified the recovered log as red sandalwood,” DCP Harendra Singh said.
ACTION TAKEN
In this regard, a case under Indian Forest Act was registered at New Delhi Railway Police Station and the recovered sandalwood was seized. The accused was identified as Arif from the city.
“During sustained interrogation, he confessed that he is involved in the smuggling of red sandalwood from Vishakhapatnam to Delhi. The cost of recovered illegal redwood is around Rs. 5 lacs in the international market.”
Accused Arif disclosed that he along with his other associates were smuggling the illegal redwood from Vishakhapatnam to Delhi and supplying to a gang. They smuggled the red sandalwood to the national capital by trains concealing it inside trolley bags. The 46-year-old man is a member of a large syndicate supplying sandalwood in Delhi. Till now, 42.5 kgs of red sandalwood has been recovered from him.
“Further investigation of the case is in progress. Several teams have been constituted to raid different locations in Delhi and other states to apprehend other people involved in this whole racket,” Mr. Singh told Indian Masterminds.
‘PUSHPA’ IN SAHARANPUR
In another incident, the Saharanpur Police of Uttar Pradesh caught smugglers trying to smuggle banned ‘khair’ wood across states. An area of Saharanpur passes through the forests of Dehradun. Therefore, teak and khair wood are smuggled here on a large scale.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Mr. Akash Tomar launched a campaign to capture the smugglers, and a police team under him arrested Bilal and Chavez Gangoh, residents of Saharanpur, who were trying to smuggle hundreds of tonnes of khair wood in a truck.
“We have recovered 11050 kg of banned khair wood from Gagalhedi area. The cost of wood has been estimated at Rs 20 lakh. Along with the truck, two accused have also been arrested,” said the officer.
After interrogation of the accused, the police have started looking for their associates. They are trying to get to the bottom of the wood smugglers and expose the whole racket.
INCIDENT IN SANGLI
Similarly, Sangli Police in Maharashtra also caught hold of accused Yasin Inayithulla who had loaded his truck with red sandalwood and had covered it with fruits and vegetable boxes to smuggle them into the state from Karnataka.
Yasin had successfully crossed Karnataka-Andhra border but was nabbed after entering Gandhi Chowk area at Meeraj Nagar in Sangli district of Maharashtra. Around 1 ton of sandalwood worth Rs 2.45 crore were seized by the police.
No doubt the film, Pushpa: The Rise, encouraged many small-time smugglers to attempt big, hoping they would be able to give police the slip, but, instead, they all ended up behind bars, proving that ‘reel life’, when emulated in real life, does not always have a happy ending!
