57-year-old man from Bandra tries to stop goons allegedly sent by a developer from uprooting tree he had planted 25 years ago, lands in ICU after being assaulted with iron rods
A 57-year-old man from Bandra was brutally beaten up when he tried stopping a builder’s henchmen from uprooting a mango tree he himself had planted 25 years ago.
Akbar Siraj Khan was in the ICU for 10 days
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The assault landed him in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a hospital. Shockingly, the incident occurred barely 100 metres away from the Bandra police station.
The mango tree being uprooted outside his Bandra Reclamation residence on March 5
The incident occurred on March 5 with Akbar Siraj Khan, who has been a production executive in the film industry for the last 18 years. Khan had planted the mango tree when his daughter was born.
Akbar Siraj Khan had planted two mango trees 25 years ago on the birth of his daughter one in a school, and one that was uprooted by the builder’s goons outside his Bandra Reclamation residence
He said, “I was emotionally attached to the tree, which I had planted when my daughter Almas was born 25 years ago. I had been nurturing this tree as a child, watching it grow from a single seed.”
A team of around 20 people came to uproot the tree to make way for a building being constructed by Pyramid Developers, says Khan
The incident
On that day, a team of around twenty men showed up to uproot the tree from the spot to make way for a building, which Khan claims, is being built by Pyramid Developers.
“I was traumatised when I saw the JCB machine that had come to uproot the tree. I had been fighting to save this tree since last two years,” said the resident of Jamat Jamuriya, Reclamation in Bandra (West).
As soon as he saw the squad, he called up 100. A few minutes later, he claims, the beat marshals did arrive on the spot. “However, they took bribes and left. I begged the people not to touch my tree. But several people surrounded me and didn’t let me move,” said Khan.
Attacked by goons
When the machine moved forward to cut the tree, Khan tried running towards the tree to oppose the men. One of the men hit him on the head with an iron rod, and soon, several others allegedly joined in to rain punches, kicks and assaults with iron rods.
“I saw my 12-year-old girl crying for help, but no one came forward. A hundred people or so had gathered, and they all watched,” recalled Khan. After he went unconscious, the team proceeded to destroy the tree. Meanwhile, locals took Khan to Bhabha Hospital. He was later shifted to Lilavati Hospital. He was in the ICU for one-and-a-half weeks.
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