Vadodara: Two sandalwood trees were chopped off and stolen from MS University (MSU) campus early on Thursday morning.Miscreants stole one tree from the bungalow of vice-chancellor (VC) professor Parimal Vyas, the other tree was stolen from Chamelibaug which houses the university guest house The theft came to light when a gardener Rupsinh Rathwa reached the VC’s bungalow on Thursday morning for his work. He later informed the university’s garden supervisor. Police said that the tree was chopped nine feet above its base as there was a tree guard around it. MSU officials said that the tree was more than 20-year-old.Later, when the MSU officials checked other locations in the university campus where sandalwood trees exist, it was learnt that another tree in the Chamelibaug, which is right besides VC’s bungalow, was also stolen. The value of both trees was estimated at Rs 60,000.Police said that the trees were stolen between 3 am and 6 am on Thursday. The two security guards at VC’s bungalow had seen the tree around 3 am and when Rathwa arrived in the morning, it was missing.“We will interrogate the security guards and the gardener because we are not ruling out anyone’s role. The location of the tree and stealing it cannot be done without an insider’s support,” said a police official.It was only last week that thieves had tried to steal a 70-year-old sandalwood tree at Sadguru Kabir Gyan Ashram in Manjalpur. However, a security guard was alerted when he heard the noise of tree falling. He had then chased away the thieves from the ashram.Sandalwood trees, which are present across the city, have always been soft targets of miscreants over the years. In April this year, two trees were chopped off and stolen from the official residence of inspector general of police (Arms Unit, Vadodara) at Lalbaug.

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