As reported in TOI by V Narayan, on Feb 22, 2010
The Tilak Nagar police on Saturday arrested a Chhota Rajan gang member, Paulson Joseph (46), and gangster Sadhu Shetty’s wife Prema (45), for ‘allegedly’ forcing 164 families to give their consent to a builder for redeveloping the Marathwada Cooperative Housing Society at Panchsheel Nagar in Tilak Nagar.
The police are collecting evidence before taking action against the builder Jatin Mehta on whose behalf the duo committed the crime.
According to the police, the accused threatened to kill the secretary and members of the society for not agreeing to the redevelopment terms and conditions that were offered to them. The victims were reportedly made to talk with Rajan on more than four occasions when the SRA authorities were informed about the issue a few months ago.
Investigators said that the duo, acting on the builder’s request, threatened the victims at gun-point and made them sign and agree to the deal that they made. “Both Paulson and Shetty are close to Jatin Mehta who was eyeing the locality to redevelop it. When the people did not agreed to Mehta’s terms and conditions, he took the duo’s help,” deputy commissioner of police (Zone VI) Dilip Sawant.
When secretary of the society, Niyamat Sayyed (36), along with the society members raised voices and objected to the deal, they were threatened and made to talk with Rajan. Sayyed, in his complaint, said, “The problem started when we disagreed with the terms and conditions and brought them to the notice of SRA officials. For the last four months, we were repeatedly called to Shetty’s seventh-floor flat at Neelkanth tower near Amar Mahal in Chembur to discuss the matter with the builder. During the meet, they used to threaten us at gun-point to solve the matter. Paulson and Shetty had made me talk with Rajan on all the four occasions.” Rajan spoke in Marathi and asked me “to do what his associates had asked him to do.”
Tilak Nagar police inspector Vilas Shinde said that the action was taken on Sayyed’s complaint. “During interrogation, Shetty revealed that she owns three rooms in the society. The builder, reportedly, offered a deal to Paulson and Shetty in the project if they help him in getting signatures of the people,” added Shinde.
Paulson came to the cops’ notice after he sponsored a party at the Chembur Gymkhana, which was attended by several top members of the Chhota Rajan gang, including D K Rao, and it resulted in the suspension of five police officers who attended the party. “In 2007, Paulson was booked for threatening and extortion after the Mumbai Crime Branch (Chembur Unit VI) received a complaint from a person. It is also learnt that Paulson is reportedly close to Rajan and handles his finances.”
The duo has been booked under several sections of the IPC for criminal intimidation, extortion and making threat calls.
