Land mafia are accused of filling the pond to take over the land.
After a bridge and a train engine, Bihar's list of bizarre thefts continued with an entire pond being "stolen". The pond vanished and had a hut built on it, leaving the locals baffled in Darbhanga district.
The surprise appearance of a hut did prompt them to inform the cops, but the land mafia - who are accused of filling the pond to take over the land - had fled by the time the police arrived.
Locals suggest the pond was publicly-owned and even maintained for fishing and other activities. But the rising prices of land in Darbhanga made the mafia set their eyes on the water body.
The locals had complained to the authorities when the pond-filling started and had led to zonal officials briefly stopping the work and making some seizures. But the mafia carried out the levelling work secretly in the dark - until the pond was entirely gone.
"People say the pond was filled with soil within 10-15 days. The work was done only at night. Officials had visited the spot earlier and even seized some items," said Amit Kumar, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO).
Bihar has hit the headlines for some of the most bizarre incidents of theft carried out - though not imaginable - by humans.
This includes an entire diesel engine being stolen in November, 2022 - part by part from a railway yard in Begusarai. The thieves had dug a tunnel to the yard and started stealing parts, according to the police. Slowly, they had taken away the entire engine that had come for repairs.
Earlier that year, an entire 60-foot bridge was stolen in Rohtas district. Eight persons including a government officer were arrested and 247 kg iron channels were recovered from the accused. The thieves used JCBs and gas cutters to dismantle it and the bridge disappeared in just three days.