Indore, July 24: Adivasis from Bejda village in Alirajpur district of Madhya Pradesh gheraoed the Sondwa police station and demanded the arrest of 4 police personnel on charges of theft of gold coins by misusing the powers vested in them due to their uniform.
Former MLA of Alirajpur and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state vice president Nagar Singh Chouhan led a delegation of villagers who gave an ultimatum to the police to arrest the accused constables and SHO latest by July 25 or else expect a bandh call to go out locally.
An FIR has been lodged by a person named Shambhu Singh who has alleged that his wife was alone in the house when Vijay Dewda, head constable Suresh Chouhan and constables Rakesh Dawar and Virendra Singh barged in at 10 am on July 19, and dug out 220 gold coins which they took along without any paperwork.
Police take action against the accused
Alirajpur SP Hansraj SIngh who said that the accused had been suspended, told the mediapersons that 45-year-old woman labourer Ramku Bhaydiya and her daughter-in-law Bajari were working at a site in neighbouring Gujarat state when they found a bunch of 240 gold coins. The daughter-in-law kept 20 coins with her and the duo then buried the rest in the middle of their hut in the native village.
Initial probe revealed that the outbound diary entry made by the Sondwa cops showed that they were raiding a village on suspicion of the sale of illegal liquor. One of the constables involved also went away on a 4-day leave immediately after the diary entry.
The Alirajpur SP Hansraj Singh told the media that an FIR has been lodged, and the accused have been suspended while the probe is on. However, no coins have been recovered as yet.
Singh said that the complainant had brought along one gold coin to show to the police. It was minted in the year 1922 and weighed 7.98 grams. A quick search on the internet shows that such coins of that era were minted from 90% gold.
The police in Madhya Pradesh have dispatched a team to Gujarat to investigate the said site further.
History about the British Raj Coins
The British Raj era coins came into circulation in India after the war for independence in 1857-58 when the British Crown took over power from the East India Company. In 1862, the first gold coin was embossed with Queen Victoria’s crowned bust; this was called one Mohur (Gold Coin).
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and had crowned himself as the Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. In this Imperial era, the Crown issued several coins that depicted the portrait of the ruling British Kings and Queens on the obverse side.
