Gurgaon: A group of around 50 people allegedly stormed a farmhouse in Bhondsi on Aug 5 night, assaulted its staff and a pet dog, damaged property, stole valuables and threatened those living on the premises. The accused sexually harassed a woman staffer and forcibly occupied the farmhouse for nearly 13-14 hours before police teams arrived and arrested 13 men.Police said the accused were sent by a local property dealer, while the farmhouse staff said the incident stemmed from a property dispute that has dragged on for over 20 years.Caretaker of the farmhouse, Arvind Tiwari (40), who filed the complaint, claimed the men arrived at the farmhouse in Mahendwara village around 9.30 pm in trucks, a tractor and a car (registration number HR26 BS 00002). He said the men forcibly entered the premises and created a fracas for several hours.While some of them demolished a room used by the farm staff, others ripped off CCTV cameras, broke the nameplate and stole household articles and valuables, Tiwari said. The accused, he said, also attempted to molest a woman staffer and threatened others present there.Based on Tiwari’s complaint, an FIR was registered at Bhondsi police station on Aug 6 under Section 25(1-B)(a) of Arms Act and BNS sections 74 (assault or criminal force against a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 115 (voluntarily causing hurt), 190 (unlawful assembly), 191(3) (rioting), 305 (theft), 331(4) (house-trespass after preparation for assault, criminal intimidation or wrongful restraint) and 351(2) (criminal intimidation).Police arrested 13 men — Rakesh, Harsh Kumar, Prashant, Jitendra, Pradeep Kumar, Rishikesh alias Rishi, Sunil, Yogesh, Mohit, Sandeep, Pramod, Birendra and Vinit — from the farmhouse, who had allegedly forcibly occupied the property till the cops arrived, even as the others had left with a tractorload of stolen goods.Tiwari, however, alleged that the property owner had been embroiled in a nearly two-decade-long dispute with Satnarayan Bansal, Sunil Saini and Dev Bhushan Gupta, and named the three as instigators of the attack. According to the farmhouse staff, the property’s owner has held the land since 2004 and a civil appeal concerning it was pending before Punjab and Haryana High Court, where a status quo order on possession and alienation, passed on Dec 4, 2019, remains in force. Police have included the three in the FIR and are investigating the allegations.Police, however, told TOI that the accused told interrogators that they had vandalised the property on the instructions of Vipin, a local property dealer. Police spokesperson Sandeep Turan said three old air conditioners, a refrigerator, a washing machine, a lawn mower and several other items were recovered from the residence and office of Vipin in Dev Nagar Part-2. Police also seized a car, a tractor-trolley and a generator allegedly used in the offence, Turan added.
