Mumbai: D-gang bookie takes campaign route to threaten housing society members in Malad

Members of Auris Serenity Tower-1 in Malad have approached the police as well as the SRa Registrar with their complaints against society chairman Sonu Jalan. File pic

After residents of Auris Serenity Tower-1 reached out to cops, the society chairman and D-gang bookie Sonu Jalan has approached the society members with a signature campaign in his favour. Residents alleged the move was taken in an attempt to zero in on those who had approached the police. mid-day has in a series of reports highlighted the plight of the residents who claimed they were threatened, harassed by Jalan. They also levelled allegations of misappropriation of society funds against him.

Building residents said that Jalan posted himself in front of the lift on Wednesday morning and approached the residents to sign the campaign forcefully. Anybody who refuses to comply would then be considered as part of those who went to the police. They further added that after running the campaign in front of the lift, Jalan deputed another person to go door to door seeking their signatures.

The alleged campaign by Jalan states, "You must be well aware of various reports on mid-day on the various allegations made against the chairman and the Provisional Committee (PC). This group first went to complain to the [SRA] registrar and the registrar is having his own investigations. The society has submitted all the papers and it is already with the Deputy Registrar."

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"These types of allegations by certain groups do have a hidden agenda which is evident since these groups decided to complain to the registrar. You all are well aware of the consequences, when it is taken over by the Registrar, and the whole society will suffer with a high amount of maintenance and the same will be handed back over to the society may be after 3-4 years. You all are also well aware of the fact that the PC went to the extent of getting the leakage issues addressed by the builder and how it got resolved. Constant effort is on by the PC team for improvement of the overall lifestyle at Auris. To counter these allegations, we need the support of the members. If you feel that the PC is doing an extraordinary job, you may sign the papers in support of the PC," it went on to state.

A society member told mid-day, "This is another way for him to threaten us that those people who will not sign the campaign will be targetted and he will identify us as rivals. He has increased nuisance in the society. We paid all the maintenance charges till now but he demanded more which he would use to construct illegal offices in the society. He will continue to do this till he is the society chairman, and then will continue to misuse the funds. This needs to be stopped."

"He is running this campaign to target us. We already informed the cops and gave a letter but have not received any help so far. This is his indirect way of threatening people and we are against it," another member said.

When contacted, Jalan told mid-day, "All allegations are false. The signature campaign is the society's internal matter and we cannot share it with the media. We have submitted all the documents to the SRA Registrar for audit. The truth will come out after the investigation ends. I didn't threaten any residents. All decisions were taken in the AGM meetings as per the law. Those people are targetting me."

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Day in September when Jalan started the campaign