Dawood's aide threatening us with underworld connections: Malad high-rise residents

Malad's tallest housing society has accused its chairman Sonu Jalan, a top bookie, of misappropriation of funds, alleging that he is an associate of don Dawood Ibrahim. Its members claimed that when confronted, Jalan would threaten them with his alleged underworld links.

Jalan was appointed chairman of the 58-storey Auris Serenity Tower-1 provisional committee in Malad West in 2021. The panel was formed on July 21 that year while the building itself came up in 2019.

All society members had paid 18 months' maintenance charges in advance to the builder before taking possession of their flats as per the latter's terms. However, they were repaid only 13 months' amount.

Also read: Mumbai: Dawood Ibrahim's brother Kaskar hospitalised after chest pain complaint

Auris Serenity in Malad West. Pic/Anurag Ahire

Residents allege that Jalan had spent the advance maintenance amount on a swanky society office and organising events without their consent or the requisite permissions. The committee had also allegedly barred those who refused to pay further maintenance charges from using the lift.

A group of members have approached the Malad police and the Slum Redevelopment Authority (SRA), and the registrar of the latter is also investigating this matter.

The SRA registrar has instructed Deputy Registrar Chetan Chaudhary to take action after carrying out a government audit of the society's accounts for 2021-22. The SRA also found that society has not done its audit of 2021-2022.

Jalan and his family own three 4BHK flats in the building.

A resident alleged, "The provisional committee used up all the funds for the illegal construction of the society office, installing CCTV cameras and replacing BMC pipelines without any approval or vote or sharing any quotations in any meetings."

Another member said, "Sonu Jalan has been threatening many members with his criminal background and government contacts. He forced us to use the service lift after we refused to pay for the extra maintenance charges added in the bill for illegal construction of office. We are not ready to pay extra maintanence charges. We had already coughed up the money just after purchasing our flats. Jalan and the committee illegally used R46 lakh from society funds to construct the office. They didn't even take permission from the BMC and the SRA for it."

Yet another senior active member claimed the committee had replaced a BMC pipeline for enlargement purposes and imposed a charge of R20 lakh on the members without sharing any quotations or seeking approval from them.

The member said, "The society has not shared any financial statement with any official or any resident despite sending many applications. The society has not done the audit for 2021-2022. Our builder had also paid the society a sum of Rs 50 lakh, which is mentioned in the minutes of the society but it has not been credited to the members to whom these funds belong."

Jalan dismissed the allegations, telling mid-day, "There is a group of people who are targeting us, as they do not want to pay maintenance. Earlier, there were 30 people and of them, 17 had submitted apology letters to the society, stating that they had been misguided. We constructed the office because the builder had given us a 100-square-foot office space which is not sufficient for 330 flat members and we have almost 60-plus security and other staff. We also sought BMC's permission for this office; 300 out of 330 society members approved it. This group also sent us many legal notices and we replied to all of them. These are fake complaints."

He added, "We are taking decisions with the majority's approval. All society members paid 18 months' advance maintenance charges but the funds were finished early. We can't stop running the society. Its monthly expenditure is R50 lakh and if we do not get maintenance, how we will pay light bills, security and cleaning charges? Till the issue is solved with the builder, society members have to pay maintenance charges and after it is solves we will adjust the society accounts with regards to future maintenance."

Rejecting the claim that he had threatened people, Jalan said, "If they have any proof they can go to the police and register a complaint against me. Recently, 250 society members also signed in favour of the committee. The CCTV cameras and BMC pipeline changes were approved in annual general meetings. We already submitted everything to the registrar and SRA. Society money was used in a transparent manner."

"Some society members had not paid maintenance charges but wanted to rent out their flat. We submitted a letter to the Malad police station informing them of this. Due to this, we stopped them from using the lift. The builder also gave a cheque with the name of the society and we credited it to society's account as society funds. It will come on paper in the government audit," Jalan added. SRA CEO Satish Lokhande said, "I am not aware of this society but I will instruct the officer concerned to probe the matter."

Police inspector Jayshree Gajbiye of Maland police station said, "We received the complaint two days back. Jalan told us that the members he stopped from taking the lift hadn't paid their dues. It's a society matter and we suggested they solve it as soon as possible and also warned Jalan to allow society members to use the lifts."

330
No. of members who live in Auris Serenity

Who is Sonu Jalan?

Sonu Jalan was nabbed in 2018 for allegedly masterminding an IPL betting racket and has a large betting network across India, Pakistan and Dubai. Jalan was born and brought up in Malad and dropped out of school in SSC.

Jalan cultivated several officers in the Mumbai police, and would often secretly record his meetings or conversations with them to blackmail them. He is also under the scanner of not only the Mumbai and Thane Police but also in investigations carried out by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and ED. There are several cases registered against Jalan for extortion.

Police said Jalan has close links with the underworld and allegedly uses these connections to intimidate punters who owe him money. A few years back, Jalan also allegedly met some key members of the gang who handle betting operations for Dawood in Dubai. Jalan is also suspected to be involved in match-fixing. Jalan also admitted once to fixing a match and giving millions of dollars to Sri Lankan players.

He was recently booked by the Thane police in a R50-lakh extortion case.