Buxar: In a baffling incident that has left telecom officials and locals astonished, a 40-metre-tall mobile tower has mysteriously disappeared from Dumraon town in Buxar district. Along with the tower, a 15 KVA diesel generator and other telecom equipment were allegedly stolen, prompting a police investigation.
The unusual case came to light when a team from GTL Infrastructure Limited visited the site to inspect and reactivate the tower, which had been non-operational for several years due to technical reasons. To their surprise, the team found that the tower was no longer standing where it was supposed to be. Instead, only an empty plot remained.
Baijnath Ojha, land and operations officer of the company, lodged a complaint with Dumraon police station. According to him, the tower had been installed on land owned by Harinath Yadav in Ward No. 18. Yadav said his agreement with the company expired in 2022 and alleged that no payments had been made to him since 2017. He claimed to have sent several legal notices to the company after the agreement ended but received no response. Yadav, however, maintained that he had no role in the matter and was unaware of how the tower disappeared.
When company officials carried out a detailed inspection, they found that not only the tower but also the diesel generator and other associated equipment had disappeared. Locals expressed astonishment over the incident. They said thefts of batteries and cables are not uncommon, but the disappearance of an entire mobile tower suggested the involvement of a highly organised gang.
Preliminary findings indicate the operation was carefully planned. Investigators believe dismantling and transporting a structure of such size would have required heavy machinery, technical expertise and a sizeable workforce. They also suspect the operation could not have been completed in a single day. The disappearance has raised several questions, including how such a massive structure could be dismantled and removed without attracting attention.
Dumraon SDPO Polast Kumar on Friday confirmed that a complaint had been received and said the police were conducting a thorough investigation to ascertain the facts and identify those responsible.
