Gadchandur: Two booked for duping tribal farmers of Rs 82 lakh in land compensation

A case has come to light in Gadchandur in Chandrapur district in which about Rs 82 lakh 66 thousand was allegedly extorted from tribal farmers by demanding twenty percent of the compensation they received for land taken over by a cement company. On the order of the Korpana court, Gadchandur police have registered a case against two men, Bharat Kawduji Atram and Anandrao Maroti Meshram.

The matter goes back to 2012, when Vinod Kawduji Khobragade, a retired talathi from Warora and a social worker, was posted as talathi in Jiwati. At that time it emerged through the Right to Information Act that Manikgad Cement Company in Gadchandur was illegally extracting limestone on about 63.62 hectares, roughly 157 acres, of land belonging to 24 tribal people in Mauja Kusumbi in Jiwati taluka, without paying revenue and in violation of the PESA Act. Khobragade filed a criminal writ petition against this in the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court, in which the affected tribal people also submitted affidavits.

While the matter was still pending in court, the accused Bharat Atram and Anandrao Meshram allegedly lured the poor tribal farmers with the promise of a bigger payout, got their thumb impressions on documents, and had them enter into a settlement with the company. The farmers were told they would get Rs 10 lakh per acre, but the company actually deposited only Rs 4 lakh per acre into their accounts at the State Bank of India's Awalpur branch.

As soon as the money reached the accounts, the two accused allegedly began demanding twenty percent of the entire amount the tribal farmers had received. They allegedly threatened that if this share was not handed over, they would get the company's senior officers to cancel the settlement, obtain a stay from court, and permanently deny the farmers their compensation. Under this pressure, affected tribal farmers including Sarjabai Kotnake, Nilkanth Atram, Ayu Sidam, Bapurao Jumnake, Vasudev Jumnake, Kisan Jadhav, Namdeo Jadhav, Ramu Sidam and Hiraman Ude withdrew lakhs of rupees from their bank accounts and handed it over to the accused. A share was allegedly even taken from the Rs 50,000 each that the farmers received from the government for court expenses. Between August 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026, the two accused together allegedly extorted a total of about Rs 82 lakh 66 thousand from the tribal farmers.

After repeated complaints to local police brought no concrete action, Vinod Khobragade approached the Korpana court under Section 175(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). Affidavits and evidence from the affected tribal people were presented before the court. After examining the documents, the Korpana civil court, junior division, and judicial magistrate first class ordered that an FIR be registered directly.

Following the court's order, a case has been registered against Bharat Kawduji Atram and Anandrao Maroti Meshram under Sections 308(2) (extortion), 318(2) and 318(4) (cheating), and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023, under the supervision of Gadchandur police station in-charge Shivajirao Kadam. Sub-inspector Ganesh Anbhule is further investigating the case.