Bizarre: 50-metre-tall mobile tower stolen in Uttar Pradesh

A 10-tonne mobile tower has gone missing in Uttar Pradesh (Representational image)

In a bizarre incident, a 50-metre-tall mobile tower has gone missing in Uttar Pradesh, puzzling authorities. According to a Times of India report, the tower’s disappearance was reported by a technician on November 29. In his complaint, the technician, Rajesh Kumar Yadav, said the tower was found missing on March 31 this year.

It is not clear why he reported the theft eight months later.

As per the Times of India report, the mobile tower was stolen from Ujjaini village in Uttar Pradesh’s Kaushambi district. What makes the matter even more baffling is that it weighed a whopping 10 tonnes (10,000 kg) and stood 50 metres tall (164 feet approximately).

It wasn’t just the tower that went missing – a shelter, electrical fittings and other equipment related to mobile tower assembly were also stolen. The materials were worth over Rs 8.5 lakh.

Police have lodged an FIR - under IPC's Section 379 (theft) based on the technician’s complaint.

According to Yadav, his company installed the mobile tower in the field of one man named Ubid Ullah in Ujjaini village back in January 2023. When he visited the field for inspection on March 31, he found the tower had disappeared without a trace.

This is not the first instance of giant structures going missing. In early April this year, a 60-foot iron bridge was dismantled and stolen in Bihar by thieves posing as government officials. Police say the bridge was stolen to sell its metal as scrap, which may be the case with the tower in UP as well.