Class IX student claims tycoon's son threatening him for befriending a girl

A top industrialist's son is believed to have been named in a police complaint for threatening a Std IX student, Rahul Mirchandani (name changed), of a posh school in South Mumbai.

The fracas began, witnesses say, at an annual event at J B Petit School on the evening of December 14 where some of the boys mentioned in the complaint allegedly took umbrage at Rahul getting too friendly with a certain girl and then tried to attack him. Now, the terrified victim says he is also getting threats from bodyguards of the industrialist's son since last three days.

The Mirchandanis have presented two separate complaints to Colaba and Azad Maidan police stations in the last two days. Cops have reportedly registered a non-cognisable complaint under sections 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 507 (criminal intimidation by anonymous communication) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of IPC against the magnate's son, whose name has been withheld, as he is a minor.

According to advocate Manoj Mirchandani, father of Rahul, minutes after attending the meet on December 14, his son was accosted by some college students (most of them wards of well-known entrepreneurs) and one of them asked Rahul to stay away from the girl Monica (name changed), a class XI student.

"I was told not to call Monica or talk to her. I was then pushed into corner, after which they hit me and tore my shirt. When the girls nearby screamed the boys ran out of the school," said Rahul.

He added, "I called my mother, informed her about the incident, and asked her to send the driver to pick me up from the school. The boys were waiting outside the school gate for me. The moment I stepped out after the driver arrived, they made another attempt to hit me, but failed."

According to Manoj Mirchandani the family disregarded the matter until Rahul started receiving threatening phone calls a few days ago. The boys, who had accosted the victim at JB Petit School, were allegedly even using their bodyguards to threaten him with dire consequences.

"The calls would come late in the night, and the callers would use abusive language at times when my wife answered Rahul's mobile in his absence," said Manoj.

"I am concerned about my son's safety, and hence, I had no option but to approach the police. The very fact that these boys or their cronies have not come before the Colaba or Azad Maidan police despite being summoned by cops shows that their parents are absolutely unaware of their activities. The worst part is that we are unable to reach the guardians of these kids, who are openly and blatantly misusing their family name and are under the false impression that they are above the law," said Manoj.

When contacted, sub-inspector MS Bholke of Colaba police station confirmed to MiD DAY having received a complaint from the Mirchandanis and said that a non-cognisable (NC) complaint had been registered.

"We were given four mobile numbers from which Rahul was receiving the calls. We tried to contact all the numbers, but none of the persons came to the police station," Bholke added. "I was told that the boys named are from industrialists' families. But since it is an NC complaint, we wanted to summon the boys, as they are too young to understand the seriousness of the matter. Also, their parents have to be informed, which is our moral duty," said Bholke.

Sub-inspector DY Vitkar of Azad Maidan police station also maintained that an NC complaint had been lodged. He said, "We will investigate the matter only if the courts ask us to do so."u00a0