Miscreants have cut down and destroyed 126 mahogany saplings planted by a farmer in Dinajapur's Nawabganj Upazila.
The incident occurred early Saturday at a field in Noleya Mouza of Mahmudpur union in the upazila.
Tarekul Islam, a 27-year-old farmer from Purbo Fatepur village, has lodged a complaint with the Nawabganj Police Station, naming six individuals as suspects in this connection.
According to locals, Tarekul, following advice from his brother-in-law, decided to pursue farming alongside his father, planting a variety of fruit trees. A few days ago, he planted 126 mahogany saplings on land purchased by his brother-in-law, Rashedul Islam.
A group of miscreants destroyed all of the saplings by cutting them down and leaving them scattered across the field.
Tarekul Islam said that some time ago, his brother-in-law bought 11 decimal (0.44-acre) of land for Tk 22 lakh from an individual named Farhad. Tarekul then planted eucalyptus saplings on the land. Shortly after, two neighboring landowners—Ator Ali, 60, Sonawallah, 65, Shahjal Mia, 29, Malek Ali, Shofikul Islam, 40, and Mushfiqur Rahman, 34—complained to the Mahmudpur Union Council, expressing concerns that the eucalyptus trees would damage their crops once they grew.
Following the complaints, the Union Council chairman directed Tarekul to remove the eucalyptus saplings and plant another variety of tree. Complying with the chairman’s order, Tarekul replaced the eucalyptus saplings with 126 mahogany saplings.
A few days later, on Friday morning, when Tarekul visited the field with his father, they discovered that all the saplings had been cut down and left discarded on the ground.
The estimated damage is between Tk 40,000 and 50,000.
Confirming the matter, Nawabganj Police Station officer-in-charge Abdul Matin said that they received the complaint regarding the destruction of the saplings.
Legal action would be taken against those found involved in the incident, the OC added.
