The complainant, identified as Manbir Singh Chhabra, 65, claims his former business associate Chhaganraj Purohit, 45, used Ravi Pujari to threaten him to withdraw the FIR
A real estate consultant has alleged that the DN Nagar police are shielding the main accused in an extortion case because he has links to fugitive gangster Ravi Pujari. The complainant, identified as Manbir Singh Chhabra, 65, claims his former business associate Chhaganraj Purohit, 45, used Pujari to threaten him to withdraw the FIR, wherein he has alleged Purohit cheated him of Rs 1.70 crore.
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First FIR filed
Chhabra is a real estate consultant. In November 2016, he found out that Purohit forged his signature on some documents to seek a loan of R1.70 crore on the office premises owned by Chhabra's company. Chhabra approached Purohit, seeking clarification about the loan, but Purohit said he hadn't done anything of the sort.
He then approached the MIDC police station on May 3, 2017, and lodged a complaint against Purohit and two of his associates.
A cheating and forgery FIR was registered in the matter in June 2017. "However, after registering the FIR, MIDC cops didn't carry out any investigation," said Shahbaz Khan Pathan, Chhabra's advocate.
'Gangster' texts
Then, in December 2017, Chhabra received a call from an international number with the person at the other end asking him to withdraw the case, return money owed to the bank and give the caller R2 crore. Chhabra dismissed this as someone's mischief and didn't tell anyone. But calls kept pouring in from different numbers.In January this year, Chhabra received a text message, threatening him to withdraw the complaint once again, signed off by "Ravi Pujari".
"As soon as he received the message, we went to the DN Nagar police station to register a case, but the police said this is an extortion case and asked us to go to the Anti-Extortion Cell. We tried to lodge an FIR there, but even they didn't cooperate," said
Complaint to CP
Chhabra then wrote to Commissioner of Police D D Padsalgikar, who directed the DN Nagar police to register the FIR. Chhabra said, "They did register the FIR but without mentioning Purohit's name. When I asked why, senior inspector Parmeshwar Ganame said he won't cooperate because I complained about them to the CP. My family is under tremendous pressure, and we want the police to act. I don't know why the DN Nagar cops are not acting on the complaint."
Dereliction of duty?
Pathan said, "In the FIR too, he [Ganame] has not applied his mind. He has put one mere section and only made Pujari an accused. Chhabra has said since Day 1 that Pujari has threatened and extorted him at the behest of Purohit, who is said to have political backup. We have reported the matter to the CP and are awaiting their appointment to discuss the dereliction of duty by the senior inspector. There should be a formal departmental inquiry against him."
Rs 1.7cr
Amount complainant has alleged he was cheated of
Rs 2cr
Amount complainant has alleged the caller demanded
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