Mumbai: Goons assault cine firm President for being refused Rs 50 lakh

Victim Birendra Nath Tiwari had told the main accused that he would help him with contacts to invest money in making a TV serial

Mumbai: Goons assault cine firm President for being refused Rs 50 lakh

The goons pinned Tiwari to the ground and thrashed and kicked him hard

During one of their initial meetings, Karan Raje Bandal, who claims to be the president of Allied Workers' Union, had tried to extort R50 lakh from the president of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE), Birendra Nath Tiwari, but he was refused the money. Instead, Tiwari had said that he would help him with contacts so that he could invest money in making a TV serial.

However, things took an ugly turn on May 10 when Bandal along with a group of 14 people entered Tiwari's office and brutally assaulted him for not paying the money. They even threatened to make a recorded call, in which Tiwari allegedly speaks ill about a political heavyweight, viral. After Tiwari filed a complaint in the matter, the Amboli police registered a case and arrested five people.

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According to the police, the arrested include Bandal and his aide Aniket Deshmukh. Speaking to mid-day, Tiwari said, "Bandal had approached me and sought work for nearly 100 people in the film industry. I had told him that people need certain skills to work in the industry. But he wanted to make quick money. During the three to four meetings we had, I had suggested him to invest money in making TV serials."

"Later, Bandal told me that he did not know anyone in the industry, and hence, would need some contacts who could guide him in the process. We fixed a meeting on May 10 when I asked him to visit my office at the Kartik Complex in Andheri West. However, on the day, about 15 people had come to my office. While seven of them had a discussion with me, the others waited downstairs.

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Later, on the pretext of having lunch together, they took me downstairs and assaulted me. First, all of them surrounded me and asked why I had spoken badly about a politician. The recorded call was sent to them by a sound-recorder with whom I had spoken about the politician. Meanwhile, one of them started slapping me while the others pinned me to the ground and punched me. They even kicked me hard. Then they snatched away my cell phone. Most of the goons had been hired from Dharavi," Tiwari added.

He further said that the accused later bundled him into a three-wheeler and took rounds of the area. Later, when they dropped him at a place near Andheri, he approached the Amboli police and registered an FIR in the matter. He also alleged that the goons had snatched his 10 gram gold chain as well. "A case has been registered under sections 385, 323, 427, 504, 506 of IPC. We have arrested some of the accused. More arrests are likely," said Bharat Gaikwad, senior inspector, Amboli police station.

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