Man uses RTI to blackmail top officials

Letter by CR divisional secretary to the Prime Minister's office states Pradeep Sonthalia used RTI pleas to dig up info on top Railway officials and later blackmailed them to earn a quick buck

Man uses RTI to blackmail top officials

Letter by CR divisional secretary to the Prime Minister's office states Pradeep Sonthalia used RTI pleas to dig up info on top Railway officials and later blackmailed them to earn a quick buck

It turns out that the man who had filed a complaint against MiD DAY reporter Tarakant Dwivedi (Akela) has quite a chequered history himself. Documents obtained by MiD DAY have indicated that Pradeep Sonthalia, alias Pradeep Jain and Pradeep Marwadi, had been reported against in several instances. Two criminal cases were also filed against him in 2009. The Divisional Secretary of the Central Railway Dinesh Chandra Pandey, in letter dated December 26, 2010, had warned senior railway officials about Sonthalia's plans to frame officials, journalists, reportedly with the help of police inspectors.

Chequered past: Pradeep Sonthalia, aka Pradeep Jain and Pradeep
Marwadi, has several FIRs registered against him across the city.
Pic/Sameer Markande

A copy of the letter has been obtained by MiD DAY. An excerpt from the letter says, "Sonthalia is currently in the process of trying to trap Mumbai Mirror in a case under the Official Secrets Act, in connivance with RPF Senior Inspector Sandeep Khiratkar, and GRP Inspector Pandharinath Yeram. This is done with the objective ofu00a0... catch[ing] an Inspector of the GRP in his mousetrap..."

Two criminal cases are also pending against him. On November 14, 2009, a hawker named Anil Jaiswal registered an FIR against Sonthalia at the Shivaji Park Police Station in Dadar under sections 504, 324 and 34 of the IPC. On November 20, 2009, another hawker named Asha Damre registered an FIR against Sonthalia at the same station, under sections 394, 323 and 34 of the IPC.

Also, erstwhile Railway Commissioner Tukaram Chavhan informed the Home Minister R R Patil at a briefing on May 19 that Sonthalia has been collecting hafta from hawkers at CST. Senior Inspector Suresh Unawane of the Shivaji Park Police Station when asked about the status of the FIRs, said, "We have to check records as the cases were filed a long time ago." Sonthalia was unavailable for comment.