Gurgaon, March 14 (IANS) A farmer in Gurgaon alleged that his ready to harvest mustard crop was destroyed by a realtor as he refused to sell his plot to the company, police said Friday. The company said it was probing the incident.
Rajesh, a resident of Shikohpur village here, complained to police that employees of Vatika India Next company destroyed his mustard crop cultivated in more than half acre of land in Sikanderpur village.
“Company officers Jamal Khan and Rajbir Singh came with three policemen and more than half dozen bouncers and crushed the crop with four JCB machines,” Rajesh said in his complaint.
Another farmer Pradeep Kumar said : “We were busy in the annual religious and sports fest “Shyam Ji Ka Mela’ at Sikanderpur village Wednesday (March 12), when some people came with four JCBs (digging machines) and destroyed the crop within minutes. They also threatened my relative Satbir Singh (who was present on the plot) of dire consequences.
Rajesh’s elder brother Surender said: “There was more than three acres of land in sector 82-A belonging to a family – of which more than half acre is with us while Vatika purchased the other 2.5 acres. There was crop on our share while Vatika’s share of land was barren.”
Police officer Pawan Kumar said a complaint has been entered in the “daily diary” at Kherkidaula police station and asked the senior Vatika officer to join investigation with papers.
“We are investigating the allegations,” he added.
Reacting to the allegations, Vatika India Next official Rajbir Singh told IANS they would compensate the farmers if the company was in the wrong.
“We took the step after orders from our seniors. Orders would have been issued after a complete study. We will compensate if we were wrong,” he said.
Vatika India Next is building houses, flats, villas and developing commercial sites in more than 700 acres after purchasing land from farmers of Sikanderpur, Shikohpur, Sihi and Rampura villages.