More builders come forward to file extortion cases against Sena corporator

Within eight hours of registering four extortion cases against sitting Shiv Sena corporator Dhananjay Gawade, NCP's Vasai-Virar City president Govinda Gunjalkar and several other politicians and RTI activists at Nalasopara, Tulinj and Virar police stations between Thursday and Friday night, the Palghar police have registered four more extortion cases against five RTI activists, politicians and an advocate at Waliv and Vasai police stations. These include new FIRs against Gunjalkar and Gawade at Vasai Gaon and Waliv police stations, respectively. These politicians and others have been accused of extorting huge sums of money from builders in Palghar district under threat of construction being halted or constructed buildings being demolished.

Govind Gunjalkar
Police sources said Gunjalkar and his associate were booked on Saturday night under sections 384 (extortion), 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code based on the complaint of a 35-year-old developer.

"The complainant has 16 hectares at Shivansai Village in Vasai and had started developing the land in 2013, but Gunjalkar and his colleagues created hurdles for him, saying the land belonged to the forest department. They complained to various departments and got his work stopped.

"In 2015, Gunjalkar demanded R1 crore from him. The developer gave Rs 5 lakh to stop the harassment. But since the last few months, the accused had been threatening him, asking him to pay the rest of it, " said an officer from Vasai Gaon police station.

Gunjalkar, who was released on bail on Friday, told mid-day that the way he was arrested reeked of a conspiracy. "Complaints being filed in the same district within less than 24 hours of each other isn't a coincidence; it's a conspiracy by someone powerful in the area," he alleged.

Dhananjay Gawade
The Sena corporator from Nalasopara East has been booked along with his three associates - Ashok Dubey, Amarjeet Yadav and Rajesh Dubey - under IPC sections 384, 386, 387 (putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion) and 448 (punishment for house-trespass) and relevant sections of the Arms Act on the complaint of a 47-year-old developer. "He has alleged that they demanded Rs 25 lakh from him, and when he gave them Rs 50,000, they usurped two of his flats at gunpoint. They had recently started demanding the rest of the money from him," said an officer at Waliv police station.

Senior inspector Sanjay Hazare said, "Yadav and Rajesh were produced in court and sent to judicial custody." The previous cases registered against Gawade and other associates are for threatening a 43-year-old builder at gunpoint and demanding R50 lakh from him between June 2015 and February 2016 for withdrawing a PIL filed in court, and for extorting R30 lakh from a 50-year-old-builder on March 30; the latter has been filed by the Tulinj police, who have also booked one Nitin Patil in it.

The others
Another developer residing in Vasai has lodged a complaint with the Vasai Gaon police against RTI activist Sanjay Kadam and advocate L Farrell for allegedly threatening to kill him if he didn't pay up Rs 1.5 crore.

An officer said, "The accused had made complaints to several departments, saying the builder's construction was illegal, and then, had demanded crores to take back their complaints. The Vasai developer had given them Rs 50,000 in 2016. They had recently started demanding the rest of the amount."

There is another complaint against Kadam, by a 31-year-old builder, who has alleged that Kadam demanded Rs 5.5 lakh from him to withdraw the complaint he had made against his project. Kadam has been booked under IPC sections 384 and 386. When contacted, the Vasai Gaon police said no arrest has been made yet and investigation is on.

Also read: Four FIRs put politicians in the dock for extorting Palghar builders

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