A tribal man was found critically injured and later declared dead during a Cidco demolition drive at Belpada on Kharghar hill, triggering protests, demands for an FIR and an inquiry by Kharghar police. Local residents alleged that officials were responsible for the man’s death, while Cidco denied that its team demolished the hutment where he was found.
The demolition was conducted on Tuesday morning by Cidco’s Controller of Unauthorised Construction team, with police personnel accompanying the operation. The team had gone to the tribal hamlet to remove what Cidco described as an unauthorised commercial structure comprising a brick building and a tarpaulin-sheet shed. Cidco said two notices had been served to the person constructing the canteen, but the encroachment had not been vacated.
According to Cidco chief vigilance officer Suresh Mengade, the team later noticed five shanties encroaching on Cidco land while returning from the site. One shanty was demolished after officials confirmed that it contained only wood logs, he said. When the adjacent hutment was checked from outside, a physically challenged man was found lying motionless inside.
Mengade said the man had an amputated right hand below the elbow, a head injury with dried blood, an injury to his hand and blood accumulated in his eyes. He said the condition of the blood suggested that the head injury might have occurred two days earlier, although the exact timing of the injuries and death remains subject to the post-mortem report. The team called an ambulance and the man was taken to Panvel sub-district hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead.
Cidco said in a press release that its team had not taken action against the hutment in which the man was found. It therefore rejected allegations that he died during the eviction operation. A Cidco official also claimed during an argument with local residents that the body may have been kept inside the hutment before the drive to implicate the agency. Locals recorded the exchange, which subsequently circulated on social media.
The account has been disputed by residents of the tribal hamlet, who gathered with the deceased man’s relatives at Kharghar police station. They alleged that the demolition drive was conducted without checking whether the structures were occupied and demanded that an FIR be registered against the Cidco officials involved. The competing accounts have made the police investigation central to establishing what happened at the site and when.
Kharghar senior inspector Sanjay Joshi said police had registered an Accidental Death Report as a first step. He said the ADR would be followed by an in-depth probe. The post-mortem examination is expected to help determine the date and time of death, while the police investigation will examine the demolition sequence, the condition of the hutments and the circumstances in which the man was found.
The incident brings a routine land-enforcement action into focus because the operation involved structures occupied or used by a tribal settlement and resulted in a disputed death. The immediate official next steps are the post-mortem examination and the police inquiry into the allegations made by residents and Cidco’s account of the operation.
