Audit co’s owner arrested for Mumbai bridge crash

Mateen Hafeez 

TNN | Mar 19, 2019, 05.20 AM IST

 

 

MUMBAI: In the first arrest since the Himalaya foot overbridge collapse killed six, Neeraj Desai, owner of the firm that had carried out a structural audit of the FOB and certified it to be in "good condition" in 2018, was held on Monday.

Desai (48) faces charges under Section 304-II of IPC of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which prescribes a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail. The charge was updated on Sunday night from Section 304(A)-negligence causing death, that means a maximum jail term of two years-that was slapped when the FIR was filed on the night of March 14.

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The arrest of the auditor is a step in the direction of ensuring accountability. But it's just Step One. Responsibility must be fixed with as much alacrity on the BMC officials whose negligence has been highlighted by civic chief Ajoy Mehta himself. And booking junior-level engineers would simply be a half-hearted act. What of those supposed to supervise and monitor their work? Their heads too must roll, and equally stringent charges must be slapped on them.

Desai owns Professor D D Desai's Associates Engineering Consultants, empanelled with the BMC and tasked with auditing 39 bridges and FOBs in south Mumbai in 2016.

"During our initial investigation, we found that experts were involved in the audit and they knew people could lose their lives due to negligence," said zonal DCP Abhishek Trimukhe, pointing out that Desai had personally audited the FOB.

A team from the Azad Maidan police station, probing the FOB collapse on March 14, reached Desai's Andheri (West) residence on Monday morning. They returned empty-handed as he was not at home. The team finally zeroed in on Desai in Sakinaka in the afternoon and picked him up. He will be produced before the Esplanade court on Tuesday.

A day after the FOB collapse, the BMC had conducted a preliminary inquiry and recommended the sternest action against the auditor, which had said in its report that the bridge was in good condition and required minor repairs.

Desai, who holds a masters in structural engineering, had knowledge about the bridge's actual condition, said the police. "We are questioning him. We have spoken to Sanjay Darade, chief engineer (bridges), to understand the functioning, job profile and responsibilities of the auditor, and others. We also got information on who was supposed to maintain the bridge and how it was done," said a senior police officer.

The BMC report on Friday had concluded that negligence and irresponsible nature of the audit led to the collapse of the FOB and loss of human lives. It recommended an FIR against the auditor, de-empanelment with the BMC and informing the state government of the reasons.


(Inputs by Richa Pinto)

The Times of India, March 19, 2019

Two realty firm directors held for not handing over Rs 4 crore flat

Mateen Hafeez

TNN | Mar 17, 2019, 07.53 AM IST

 

 

MUMBAI: Economic offences wing (EOW) arrested two directors of a construction firm for duping the proprietor of an event management firm staying at Marine Drive. The accused took Rs 4 crore in 2008, promising him a flat in a JVPD building by July 2010. But he never delivered the flat or returned the money.

Prakash Barot (55) and Umesh Rao (57), both directors of Zenal Construction Pvt Ltd, were produced before Esplanade court, which remanded them to police custody till March 20.

The complainant had booked a 1,500 sq ft flat on the 8th floor of the building the accused were to construct as part of a redevelopment project. The accused had kept flats up to the fourth floor for tenants, and the rest were to be sold. "They had constructed the building up to the fourth floor when BMC issued a stop work notice. The tenants ran from pillar to post to get the building constructed. They later approached another builder, who took over the project.

The accused kept telling the complainant that work would start soon. Fed up with their promises, the complainant demanded his money back. When they did not pay him back, a complainant was lodged and an FIR was filed in October last year for cheating, breach of trust and under various sections of Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act (MOFA).

Police are probing if more home-buyers were cheated by the duo. Police sources said this was the third case against Barot. In another case with Amboli police, under MOFA, a businessman said he had paid Rs 2 crore for a flat in the same project. A home-buyer had complained to Juhu police too that he had paid Rs 2 crore to the accused.


The Times of India, March 17, 2019

We will not be influenced by BMC's inquiry report: Police

Mateen Hafeez

 

TNN | Mar 17, 2019, 06.56 AM IST

 

 

MUMBAI: The Azad Maidan police, investigating the Himalaya bridge collapse that killed six persons, said that it was collecting documents related to the case and that it would not be influenced by the BMC's report. Sources said there was a possibility of the police forming a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the case.

As of now, the police have not issued summons to anyone and will do so once they study the documents they are collecting. "We are conducting an independent inquiry and will not rely upon any other source or findings," said a senior police officer.

A day after the tragedy killed six people outside CSMT, the BMC's preliminary inquiry report had nailed the structural auditor, two civic engineers and a contractor who had carried repairs in 2013. Two retired civic officers from the bridges department too have been named and a full-fledged departmental inquiry has been ordered against them.

A police source said that they have got a copy of the BMC report and are going through it. "No suspect's statement has been recorded yet and no arrest has been made. We are collecting evidences and will take action as per law," said Deven Bharti, joint commissioner of police (law and order). Another officer said that even though they have got the BMC's report, they "will not be influenced by it" and go by their own probe and findings. Cops have recorded statements of over 50 witnesses so far. "We will not summon railway officials as they have nothing to do with the collapse," added the officer.


The Times of India, March 17, 2019

Mumbai: Dumper runs over senior citizen

Mateen Hafeez

TNN | Mar 15, 2019, 09.06 AM IST

 

 

MUMBAI: A senior citizen, who was returning home after attending a religious sermon at Bhendi Bazar, was crushed by a speeding dumper at around 12.30pm on Thursday.

The deceased, Zubaida Patanwala, was rushed to a hospital, but declared brought dead. While the dumper driver managed to escape, some local youths chased him and he was nabbed by the Pydhonie police near Crawford Market.

"We will go through the CCTV footage to establish how exactly the accident took place. It is too early to say whether the dumper driver was drunk," said a police officer.

The Times of India, March 15, 2019

59-year-old bogus doctor arrested in Maharashtra medical scam

Mateen Hafeez TNN 

Mar 13, 2019, 05.48 AM IST

 

 

MUMBAI: The city economic offences wing (EOW) on Monday arrested a 59-year-old bogus doctor for jumping bail and not attending court. The accused, Shivaji Banke, along with 226 other bogus doctors, was chargesheeted around 15 years ago. Trial in the case is in the final stages.
Banke was first arrested in 2002 by police inspector Rajan Katdare. The officer, who investigated the state-wide scam, had arrested more than 152 doctors. As investigation continued, more doctors were arrested from various parts of the state. "After his arrest in the case, Banke was jailed and later released on bail. He would attend court, but later stopped coming," said an officer.

After receiving information about Banke's presence in his hometown, Kolhapur, an EOW team brought him to Mumbai on Monday. The court had initially issued a bailable warrant against Banke. A few years later, the court issued a non-bailable warrant and, finally, a standing warrant against him. Police were asked to execute the warrant.

"He ran a clinic in Kolhapur and had a certificate which showed he was eligible to practice Ayurveda. There are hundreds of doctors in this case like him who had procured fake degrees or certificates and were not eligible for practice, but they did. Banke was working as a medical representative at the time of his arrest on Monday," said an officer.

During interrogation, Banke told police he had secured good marks in class XII in the mid-'80s but was unable to pay donation of Rs 35,000 to get admission in a medical course.


The Times of India, March 12, 2019

Mumbai man poses as client, escapes with gold worth Rs 52 lakh, held

Mateen Hafeez

Mar 11, 2019, 08.36 AM IST

 

MUMBAI: Pydhonie police on Saturday arrested a 20-year-old man for impersonating as a client to dupe a jewellery shop owner of gold worth Rs 52 lakh. Police are looking for two accused who hatched the conspiracy. The accused, while fleeing with the gold, had locked the victim and his employee in a room.
Police said Moti Mandal, 36, a Mazgaon resident, lodged a complaint stating two men posed as his clients and stole 1,700 gm gold.

Police said Mandal owned a jewellery designing shop near Masjid Bunder. The complainant has stated on January 16, he got a call from one Altaf Shaikh who placed an order for gold chains and bracelets. Shaikh sent unpolished gold to Mandal's unit through an agent, Abir Hussain.

In the last week of February, Shaikh called up Mandal and told him another agent would be dealing with him.

The accused placed another order, but this time he did not hand over any gold. Instead, he said they would first take the gold jewellery and hand over the pure gold later.

Mandal subsequently got a call from Shaikh who asked him to bring the bracelets. Mandal and an employee went to an address given by Shaikh. On reaching there, they were met by two men who took the gold jewellery and left the office saying they would bring the gold to hand over to Mandal.

When they did not return, Mandal tried to open the door and found they had been locked. He and the employee broke the glass window.

Based on call data records, police arrested Asif Shaikh, 20, who had provided his documents to the accused Anwar Shaikh to procure a SIM card.

The Times of India, March 11, 2019

'Bank insurance staffers' dupe IIT alumnus of Rs 35 lakh

Mateen Hafeez 

Mar 11, 2019, 08.01 AM IST

MUMBAI: A senior citizen who is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur was cheated of Rs 35 lakh by cyber fraudsters who posed as bank officials and lured him to get huge money on his life insurance policies. The conmen, to get money into their account, then warned the 67-year-old of possible raids by the enforcement directorate (ED) and income tax officials.
The senior citizen lodged a complaint of cheating and hacking at Nagpada police station. The victim told the police that the suspects cheated him from June to December last year. Investigating officer Prasad Raut told TOI, "We are trying to get details of the bank accounts used by the accused."

The complainant had taken life insurance policies from a private bank for Rs 4 lakh. In 2018, his policies were to mature. The complainant decided to close the policy and informed the bank. A few months later, he got a call from one Akhlaque Ahmed who said he was from the same bank.

The police said that Ahmed told the senior citizen that he could he could get Rs 8 lakh as returns if he deposited Rs 70,000 into a certain account as processing fee.

Though the victim did not get the promised Rs 8 lakh, he got a call from one Kamal Sharma who said he was from the same bank. Sharma gave details of privileges for senior citizens and told the complainant that he could benefit from government schemes and his total return would be around Rs 33.7 lakh provided he first deposited Rs 6.13 lakh into another account as processing fee. The victim transferred the amount.

A month later, he got another call from one S B Sharma and claimed he was from the same bank. This caller asked the senior citizen to deposit Rs 15 lakh if he wnated monthly pension of Rs 42,000 besides te returns promised in the insurance policy. The victim deposited this amount too.

The caller said he needed to transfer total funds to his account, but warned that the ED and income tax authorities could raid him over such a huge amount. The caller said he could circumvent this by paying Rs 6 lakh tax. The victim transferred the amount.

However, as he did not get any funds and all callers' phones were switched off, he lodged a police complaint.

The Times of India, March 11, 2019

CCTV grab seals fate of club contractor in SoBo murder

GIVEAWAY: The tempo used to transport the unconscious victim

Mateen.Hafeez@timesgroup.com

Mumbai: In an investigation worthy of the screen, the Gamdevi police solved a murder case in which the only clue was the blurred image of a tempo. 

On March 1, an injured man was found unconscious near a ground opposite a posh club in south Mumbai by a civic employee. Police was informed and the person was rushed to Nair Hospital. A case of attempt to murder was registered after a medical report established that he was hammered six times on the skull, forehead and jaws. Despite no identity proof, police solved the case with blurred images of a tempo used to dump the victim. The victim died the day the prime accused was arrested.

Inspector Shashikant Yadav said Balaram Jadhav (51), a mukadam with D ward office, informed them about the man at 6.45am.

 “We luckily found CCTV footage from a nearby residential building,” said Yadav. Investigators said a tempo arrived at 1.25am, two men alighted, one of them dragged something and threw it on the road. The third man, in the front seat, also alighted. A little later, two men left, but Ramesh alias Bobby (59) waited. He dragged the victim to a corner behind a parked school bus, and threw a bloodstained polythene and cardboard into a dustbin, and walked away.

CCTV footage of the tempo showed ‘Amajrit’ written on it, but the other words were blurred. A Gamdevi transporter said it belonged to a person in the transport business, Amarjit Yadav (28). When police summoned him, he admitted to have gone to the spot along with his employee, Mohammed Shareef (32) and a client, Bobby. He claimed Bobby had booked his tempo to transport material from Oriental Club to NSCI in Worli. Amarjit and Shareef were booked for attempted murder and arrested. While examining Bobby’s phone, police found he was in Gujarat. Bobby was a contractor at a club at Wankhede stadium for 14 years. Police took the help of other contractors to call him to the police station.

Soon after he landed up, police got news that the victim, by then identified as Babu, had died on March 3. “Bobby admitted that on February 28 Babu had come to work as a daily wage labourer. Bobby paid him Rs1,500 but he demanded more. They went to Amarjit’s tempo, sat inside and argued as both were drunk. When Babu snatched Bobby’s debit card from his pocket, a furious Bobby took a hammer and clobbered him. He was then dumped by Bobby and two others. Police have kept his body in the mortuary and are trying to locate his relatives.

March 8, 2019 The Times of India