Ram Kadam's brother, associates booked for assaulting carpenter

A non-cognisable offence has been registered at the Ghatkopar police station against MNS MLA Ram Kadam's brother Dilip Kadam, personal assistant Anil Mishra and close aide Nitesh Chavan after they allegedly assaulted two persons and extorted money from them on February 25. They were allegedly issuing threat calls repeatedly to the victims over several months.

Living in fear: Carpenter Narsingh Maharana (left), seen here with his friend Prashant Poojari

The two victims have been identified as carpenter Narsingh Maharana and his friend Prashant Poojari. In July 2012, Maharana was given an assignment by Radhesham Panegrehi in Saki Naka, for which he hired Chottelal Vishwakarma on contract basis. Maharana agreed to pay Vishwakarma Rs 1.07 lakh.

"He was initially hired in order to complete the entire assignment, but he abandoned work midway saying he needed to go to his native place. I had already paid him Rs 85,000. I had to hire someone else to complete the assignment," said Maharana.

On February 7, the carpenter got a call from Ram Kadam's personal assistant Anil Mishra, who asked him to cough up the remaining amount. Maharana was told that if he didn't comply he would be picked up from his residence in Saki Naka. "On the same day I visited Kadam's office to sort the matter out. There, I was assaulted and asked to pay up by February 25. Vishwakarma had apparently told them I had to pay him Rs 60,000 more."

Maharana appealed to Panegrehi for help, and later sought advice from his friend Poojari. Poojari said, "I spoke to Ram Kadam's business partner Vedh Tiwari, who assured me that no one would call Maharana henceforth. But after a few days he got a threatening call from Nitesh Chavan."

On February 25, the victims went to Ram Kadam's Ghatkopar office to meet him and Chavan. After a while the MLA's brother Dilip Kadam arrived in the office and allegedly assaulted Maharana.

Poojari said, "When he assaulted Maharana, I intervened, following which everyone present in the office thrashed us."

Kadam's aides held Poojari and asked Maharana to get Rs 10,000 immediately or they would kill his friend. Maharana rushed to the bank and got the money.

Maharana said, "They let him go and said that the remaining money should be paid soon otherwise they would kill him. We are still getting threat calls." A non-cognisable (NC) offence was registered with the Ghatkopar police after the victims submitted a letter on February 26.

Senior police inspector Ram Govind Mandurke from Ghatkopar police station said, "Investigations are on and we have registered an NC offence with the police station in which they have been booked under section 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace). We have also been recording statements of all the people involved in the case."u00a0