'Thanks to mid-day, I'm getting my house back after 13 years'

Albina Fernandes fought for 13 years to get her property back from Chandran

Nearly two months after mid-day first exposed how the land mafia was taking over properties in Kalina, the Vakola police finally arrested the mastermind, Prem Chandran PK, on Thursday. Chandran had evaded arrest for over a month after fellow accused, Abid Ali Mushtaque Tanaji, was caught. Cops suspect Chandran is involved in many similar offences, and have appealed to citizens to come forward if he has grabbed their land too.

mid-day first reported on the land-grabbers in Kalina on December 28, 2018, highlighting how Prem Chandran PK and accomplice Abid Ali Mushtaque Tanaji had usurped a Rs 50-crore bungalow, taking advantage of the fact that owner Roque D'Souza was in prison.

Prem Chandran had managed to evade arrest for over a month

Reader comes forward
It was after reading this first report that a reader, Albina Fernandes, came forward with a similar complaint against Chandran. She alleged that he had taken over her Rs 3-crore property way back in 2006, and she had been struggling to get it back ever since. After battling alone for 13 years, Fernandes had all but given up, until she recognised Chandran in the news report. It was fortunate that she did, because Chandran was eventually arrested on the basis of her complaint.

"Thanks to mid-day's report, I am getting justice after almost 13 years. I hope I get my house back soon. But I also want to know what happened to my husband. The people who grabbed my property might have been be involved in his disappearance in 2000," said Fernandes, 62.

Prem Chandran has been arrested in the second case mid-day reported, regarding Albina Fernandes's land

While Tanaji was arrested within weeks, Chandran had managed to elude the police for over a month. After his anticipatory bail application (ABA) was rejected by the sessions court, cops launched a manhunt for him across Mumbai, Chennai and Kerala, but he remained untraceable. Eventually, the Bombay High Court granted him relief in the D'Souza bungalow case.

On February 21, the police registered two fresh FIRs against Chandran, one of which was Fernandes's case. The very same day, the cops arrested Chandran during a surprise raid of his house.

Fernandes' advocate, Prashant Pandey said, "This is a victory of the common man, restoring faith in the due process of law. Justice may take time, but it will prevail."

Second FIR
The second new FIR against Chandran was registered on the complaint of activist Charles D'Souza, who alleged the accused had also grabbed Kalina church's property in 2018. Charles said, "Our church member Merry Rodricks died in 2015, bequeathing her property to the Kalina church. The accused grabbed this property in 2018 with forged documents. He had done the same thing many times, targeting widows or people likely to lose track of their land."

So far, the Vakola police have three FIRs against him, including the D'Souza Bungalow, which was first reported by this paper. The cops suspect that Chandran is involved in at least a dozen such cases, grabbing properties with the help of forged documents. Cops have now appealed to locals to come forward if their property was similarly encroached.

Kailaschandra B Avahad, senior PI at Vakola police station, said, "After registering two more FIRs, the accused was arrested under Sections 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using forged documents), 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC. We are investigating if the accused was also involved in more such cases."

In court today
Chandran was presented on court today, where a heated argument took place between the public prosecutor and his lawyer. The defence informed the court that the land was under a civil disputed and the matter was sub judice. The lawyer also claimed that Chandran had been framed.

The public prosecutor informed the court that the accused had been arrested for forgery and trespassing, not in the civil matter. After hearing both sides, the Bandra court didn't grant the Vakola police custody, and instead remanded Chandran to judicial custody. Following this setback, the cops are likely to approach the sessions court to get his custody for further investigations.

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