30 April,2010 09:28 AM IST | | Kaumudi Gurjar
No electric bulbs, fan for top hotelier, builder held in land grab case as they spend night with petty thieves
Not in their wildest dreams would a bunch of billionaires arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) have imagined they would one day be brought so low. In police lockup since last night, four prominent faces of the city accused of land-grab ufffd hotelier and builder Ram Kumar Agarwal, builder Ravikumar Sankala, corporator Rajesh Pille and former Shiv Sena corporator Ajay Bhosale ufffd shared the cramped quarters at the Bund Garden police station with seven petty robbers and vehicle thieves.
No bending of rules
The accused, who have laid the foundation of some of the best-known hotels and office spaces in the city, had to get by without a single electric bulb, ceiling fan and even home-cooked food.
Sources at the police station said the inmates have to rely on the streetlights streaming into the cell to see in the dark.
"The cell has a common toilet, to be shared by 11 inmates. No food will be allowed from home. The regular fare here of plain roti, dal, rice and the usual bland sabzi will be served," said the source.
Case history
The four were arrested by the CID on charges of land-grab of 104 gunthas at a prominent location in Balewadi in 2006.
In the case, builder Pradipkumar Dorje, whose land was encroached upon, had filed a case with the Chatushrungi police station.
"The four accused along with 35 strongmen had ransacked Dorje's land on March 25, 2006. They broke the signboards and put new boards claiming Rajesh Pille was the caretaker. They even threatened and abducted the watchman and his family and later left them at an isolated spot," said Superitendent of CID Sharad Shelar.
After the four were booked, Dorje appealed for a CID inquiry and investigations were stalled as the accused move the Supreme Court. Finally, the apex court dismissed their application and gave the case to the CID in December last year.
After months of investigations, the CID gathered evidence against the four and summoned them to the Shivaji Nagar office on three occasions. Yesterday, they were again called at 12.30 pm and were served memos of arrest. Shelar said, "They were arrested at 4.30 pm yesterday and will be produced in the Shivajinagar court today."
