Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
Complaints of land grabbing and extortion are piling-up against Dilip Gwalbanshi and his accomplices. Emboldened by police action against one of the Gwalbanshi, common men are now in over active mode to make a beeline to police station and register their complaint. With police on overdrive mode and eager to crackdown on goons and land grabbers, people are hoping to reclaim their plots.
The city police has formed a special ‘Property Cell’ to deal with the property related offences that were on upswing as land prices went Northwards. A massive crack-down is set to be launched against land grabbers during the month ahead,” said Commissioner of Police Dr. K. Venkatesham. The police department is busy preparing documents before taking call on nabbing the goons as they want paperwork to be foolproof.
The property cell’s office of city is situated at Old Administrative building, besides Udyog Bhavan, Civil Lines, and citizens can now directly approach the cell. Senior Police Inspector Vazeer Sheikh has been appointed as the in-charge of the cell that is attached to Economic Offences Wing (EoW). The cell will have panel of experts including city survey officials, lawyers and financial experts to decipher through the maze of records created by dupesters and gangsters, the CP said.
Other officials informed that stringent MCOCA Act is likely to be invoked against Dilip Gwalbanshi and his accomplices soon as the gang is notorious for wide range of criminal activities, including land grabbing, extortion, and have amassed huge wealth through their criminal activities.
Meanwhile, Gittikhadan Police have registered another offence against Gwalbanshi gang for trying to extort Rs seven lakh. The accused are identified as Harish Gwalbanshi, Shailesh Gwalbanshi, Alok Mahadule and 15 others. According to complainant Babarao Wamanrao Domne (61), a resident of Police Headquarters, the accused allegedly attacked him when he had gone to check upon his plot at Hajari Pahad wherein the accused persons allegedly tried to extort Rs seven lakh. Later, the accused phoned owner of Plot No. 63 Pramod Ahir and threatened him for dire consequences if he dated to lodge complaint at Police Station. The accused have been booked under Sections 141, 143, 341, 352, 383, 387 and 34 of Indian Penal Code.
It may be mentioned that accomplices of extended Gawalbanshi family were in business of extortion since last many years. The gang have illegally encroached on land plots of citizens in Gittikhadan, Koradi and Mankapur area and allegedly forcing people to pay money to clear their plots. Sources informed that the accused used to make duplicate documents of plots with the help of some agents in Revenue Department.
As the land prices zoomed by nearly 300 per cent in last 10 years, many small players started business of land dealing in the city. The land dealers are openly violating rule of law, especially in outskirts of the city with the help of local goons. Such gangs are active in Hudkeshwar, Gittikhadan, Mankapur, Koradi, Kalamna, Wadi, MIDC and Hingna Police Stations areas. The land dealers identify land parcels of individuals and then grab the same by preparing bogus documents. After locking in the said plots in dispute the goons then enter into the picture and offer to settle the matter and thereby rake in lakh of rupees.
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