Wadala man gave his kids poisoned sweets for painless death’

S Ahmed Ali TNN

Mumbai: A day after four members of a family were found dead at their Wadala home, investigators believe that Donato Anthony (49) forced his children to eat poison-laced chocolates to ensure their deaths were painless. “It seems that Donato first poisoned his children and wife before committing suicide,” said an officer.
    On Monday, partly decomposed bodies of Donato, his wife Elizabeth (45), son Jason (12) and daughter Vivenne (4) were found in flat number 501 of 11-storeyed Odyessey Tower at Bhakti Park. Two cans of an unknown acid, lots of chocolates laced with poison, two empty juice bottles, an unpaid electricity bill of Rs 34,000, an unpaid medical bill of Rs 6,000 and documents pertaining to the flat as well as loan were found in the flat.
    The bodies were sent for postmortem and the reports are still awaited. Deputy commissioner of police (Zone 4) Dattatray Karale said, “The doctors have preserved the viscera and the chemical analysis report is awaited. But prima facie, they have not found any external injuries on any of the bodies. As of now, we have not found any foul play in the deaths.”
    Investigators also believe that Donato had planned the murders and his suicide well in advance. On March 16, Donato sent a text message to his nephew Gracious, saying his life was in danger and that he should call the cops if he finds anything suspicious. However, Gracious did not inform his father Anil about the message. “We are probing why Gracious did not inform the police or his father,” said ACP Rajput. When TOI called up Anil, he refused to talk.
    The police have learnt that Donato used to work as a video editor in a film-editing firm but lost his job in 2007. The same year, he bought a 550 sq ft flat in Odyessey Tower from Kashmira Zaveri for Rs 36 lakh through an estate agent, Chetan Shah. Donato paid Rs 20 lakh and took possession of the flat, and promised to pay the rest in a few months. But two of Donato’s cheques were dishonoured, Shah told the police. “Kashmira then returned his Rs 20 lakh and sold the flat to Naveen Narale. Donato first requested Kashmira to give him a few days to vacate the flat, but later refused to do so,” said Shah.

5 MLAs suspended from House for thrashing cop

No Arrests Yet, Tough Laws Not Invoked

Sharad Vyas & S Ahmed Ali TNN

Mumbai: The state assembly on Wednesday suspended five MLAs involved in Tuesday’s attack on a traffic policeman for the rest of the year even as police tried in vain through the day to arrest some of them.
    Police teams fanned out to pick up MLAs Kshitij Thakur (BVA) and Ram Kadam (MNS) and even came to the assembly but returned empty-handed amid talks between senior police officials and
the state and assembly administration and talk of their surrender on Thursday.
    The suspended MLAs are Kadam, Thakur, Pradeep Jaiswal (Ind), Rajan Salvi (SS) and Jaykumar Rawal (BJP). They cannot take part in assembly proceedings till December 31 and are barred from entering the Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai and Nagpur.But going by past experience, the suspension may not hold. In 2009, four MNS MLAs were suspended for 4 years for slapping SP’s Abu Azmi. But the term was commuted in July 2010.
    Late at night, the cop, Sachin Suryavanshi, was shifted to Bombay Hospital after reportedly complaining of chest pain. CRIME, BUT NO PUNISHMENT? WHAT HAPPENED On Tuesday, a group of 15 MLAs punched and kicked traffic police sub-inspector Sachin Suryavanshi inside the assembly. The legislators were irked with the cop for having stopped and fined Nalasopara MLA Kshitij Thakur for speeding and sporting dark film on his car on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link
THE 5 MLAS SUSPENDED Kshitij Thakur (33), Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, Nalasopara
Ram Kadam (41) MNS, Ghatkopar (West)
Jaykumar Rawal (38) BJP, Sindkheda
Rajan Salvi (49) Shiv Sena, Rajapur
Pradeep Jaiswal (52) Independent backed by Sena, Aurangabad Central DOUBLE STANDARDS? More than 30 hours after the attack, the MLAs concerned were not even summoned for questioning. The police chief said there had been no offer from the MLAs to surrender
The Law For An Ordinary Citizen If you assault a cop, beat him up or even have a heated argument, chances are you will be booked immediately and arrested for obstructing a government employee from performing his duty. If police fail to arrest you on the spot, you can be picked up from anywhere later
Special Provisions For An MLA If a legislator is accused of assaulting a public servant or a citizen, police will first “scrutinize” allegations and verify if he was present at the spot. He will then be called to give his statement, which will also be verified. Only if the allegations are found true by an inquiry will he be arrested. However, the Speaker has to be informed within 24 hours Non-bailable charge not in FIR against MLAs
Mumbai: A team of the crime branch, which is following up on the FIR against 15 MLAs for the assault on a traffic policeman, collected CCTV footage from five cameras on the assembly premises. “We have just got the CCTV footage and are trying to identify people (involved in the assault) besides MLAs Ram Kadam and Kshitij Thakur,” said joint commissioner Himanshu Roy.
    A top officer said though various IPC sections like causing grievous hurt and wrongful assembly have been applied on the MLAs, cops have not included the tougher and nonbailable section 332—voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty.
    In the House, a resolution for suspension was moved by parliamentary affairs minister Harshvardhan Patil and adopted by voice vote. “Their action has lowered the dignity of the august House and for it, the Vidhan Sabha expresses regret,” Patil said, adding that Sachin Suryavanshi was beaten up when he visited room 114 around 12.50pm during a breach of privilege hearing over an altercation he had with MLA Thakur near the Bandra Worli Sea Link last week.
    Outside, as police teams sought to arrest the MLAs, it was learned that Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh, speaker Dilip Walse-Patil and CM Prithviraj Chavan had hammered out a formula whereby Thakur and Kadam would surrender on Thursday morning. In the evening, Singh denied it. “There is no question of the MLAs offering to surrender. My teams are hunting for them but as of now, we have not made any arrest,” he said.
    Sources said two teams of senior police officers had gone to Vidhan Bhavan and another team was sent to Virar to arrest Thakur. But they were unsuccessful. Kadam and Thakur’s cell phones were switched off, and there were reports that they would file for anticipatory bail on Thursday.
    The sources said the case against Kadam and Thakur was strongest as in the FIR Suryavanshi has said that Kadam first slapped him and tried to strangle him while threatening that “wherever you go, I will kill you”. Thakur joined Kadam and kicked him in his groin and threatened him.
    The IPS officer’s association on Wednesday met to condemn the attack, but seemed to have been mollified by the government action. “We were told appropriate action has been taken. The government has stated in the House that they have suspended the MLAs...,” said secretary P K Jain.
    However, the suspension angered the opposition, which claimed Congress-NCP legislators had been spared. “We had advocated strict action against our own MLAs... but it’s unfair that the Congress-NCP spared its own MLAs who had threatened to stall budget proceedings if subjected to the embarrassment,” said MNS leader in the house Bala Nandgaonkar.
    

Black day in state: MLAs thrash cop in assembly

Sub-Inspector Had A Run-In With Legislator

Sharad Vyas, Ambarish Mishra & S Ahmed Ali TNN

Mumbai: The Maharashtra legislative assembly witnessed unprecedented ugly scenes on Tuesday when a group of legislators roughed up a traffic policeman during a breach of privilege hearing, prompting a strong response from the police brass. The situation eased following an apology from the speaker and after the chief minister and the home minister promised action against the offenders.
    A first information report was registered by the Marine Drive police against at least 15 legislators, including Nalasopara MLA Kshitij Thakur and the MNS’s Ram Kadam, whom the injured policeman had named.
    Earlier in the day, over a dozen MLAs led by Thakur and Kadam thrashed sub-inspector of Worli traffic police, Sachin Suryavanshi, in the corridor outside the lower House after a heated hearing on the breach of privilege motion. The policeman was dragged out from the visitors’ gallery where he was seated and kicked and punched till security officials rescued him. He was rushed to hospital. Suryavanshi has suffered blunt trauma in his chest, neck and abdomen, but is stable.
RUNNING RIOT IN THE HOUSE
THE TRIGGER Last week, Nalasopara MLA Kshitij Thakur’s vehicle was stopped at the Worli end of the Bandra Worli Sealink as it clocked over 100kmph
Sub-inspector Sachin Suryavanshi imposed fines on the driver for speeding and for not removing black film from the windows
Thakur apparently abused Suryavanshi, and was brought to the Worli chowky where the matter was sorted out
THE MLAs Police chief Satyapal Singh said Marine Drive police have registered an FIR against 15 MLAs, including Kshitij Thakur (BVA) and Ram Kadam (MNS), whom Suryavanshi has identified
THE FALLOUT On Tuesday, Thakur moved a breach of privilege motion against Suryavanshi. He claimed the cop had refused to give details of the sections imposed on him and later threatened him with ‘dire consequences’
In the House, during an adjournment, a group of MLAs who spotted Suryavanshi in the visitors’ gallery, dragged him out and thrashed him
THE COP
    Sachin Suryavanshi, 31, is from Sangli district and is married
    He had joined the Worli traffic division chowky 20 days ago
    Colleagues described Suryavanshi as a good officer, who always came to work on time and always followed the rule book
IPS officers livid, protest to CM
    Afurious team of senior IPS officers met the CM on Tuesday. “We told them not to take the police force, which is very disciplined, for granted,’’ an IPS officer said. Chavan was initially non-committal, but later promised stern action against the erring MLAs soon. P 6 Cops, MLAs have a running feud
    It was the simmering tension between the police and elected representatives which came to a boil on Tuesday. With as many as five privilege motions already tabled by MLAs against police officers in the ongoing budget session, it is clear resentment runs deep in both sides. P 6 Crime branch to probe attack by MLAs
Speaker Says Sorry, CM Cracks Whip, Parties Wary
    Soon after the shameful incident in the assembly on Tuesday, almost all senior IPS officials protested before the CM, his deputy and the home minister. “We have related the entire incident in detail and have expressed our displeasure to the chief minister and home minister,” said city police commissioner Satyapal Singh.
    The case has been transferred to the Mumbai crime branch and joint CP Himanshu Roy has been asked to head the probe. Sections 353 (assaulting public servant), 506(2) (criminal intimidation), 341 (wrongful restraint), 145 (unlawful assembly) and 146 and 147 (rioting) of the IPC, have been mentioned in the FIR.
    Describing the attack as “reprehensible”, Chavan said: “Differences persist in democracy. But the aggrieved party can’t take the law into its hands… You will know the action taken against the legislators within 24 hours.”
    Sub-inspector Sachin Suryavanshi, who had joined the Worli traffic division recently, was accused of misbehaving with Thakur after stopping the latter’s speeding vehicle on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link last week. Thakur, an MLA from the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA), on Tuesday moved the breach of privilege motion against the cop, narrating the incident and claiming that Suryavanshi had refused to divulge details of sections imposed on his speeding car and later threatened him with “dire consequences”. As the motion was being read out, several MLAs stormed into the well of the House demanding immediate action. The House was adjourned, but the exchange of emotive gestures between the legislators and the cop continued until it reached a flashpoint. Angry MLAs stepped out and beat up the cop in the corridor for almost 10 minutes.
    As tempers flared both among the police and the politicians, speaker Dilip Walse Patil told the House that both the incidents inside and outside the assembly premise were of a serious nature and needed to be probed. “I am disturbed. I seek forgiveness from the people of the state, the police and the MLAs. We are the custodians…,” he said.
    Leader of the opposition Eknath Khadse of the BJP later visited the injured policeman. “If any of my party members are involved in this, I will not allow them to get away with this,” he said.
    MNS legislator and leader of the party in the assembly Bala Nandgaonkar, too, criticized his party members for their role in the assault but stopped short of condemning the episode.
    Suryavanshi was visiting the assembly after he was apparently called by the chairman of the council for a hearing as the matter had rocked the upper House a day earlier. Following the pandemonium, Patil had announced the officer would be sent on forced leave until an inquiry is complete. In this period, Thakur had taken a letter signed by 25 MLAs to the speaker demanding action. “When I bumped into the cop in the assembly corridor, he said ‘do what you and your MLAs have to do against me’,” Thakur told the assembly.
KHADI Vs KHAKI | A LONG-RUNNING FEUD
    Ask any MLA and he will have a story about a cop insulting him at a traffic signal or a parking bay. The police’s account of ‘rude’ politicians is not different either. While it is ‘sheer arrogance’ of the man in uniform for one side, for the other, it is ‘blatant disregard’ for the rule of law.
    “This is not the first time a cop has insulted an MLA on the street. Last time, I was with my family on an outing when a cop shouted at me for parking wrongly. When I told him I am an MLA, he yelled at me more. Since I was with my family, I didn’t have any option but to keep quiet. But if this is the way they behave with an elected representative, you can imagine the fate of a common man,” said BJP MLA Jaykumar Rawal.
    Other MLAs say the cops need to be sensitized on behaving with the elected representatives in public places. Several MLAs shouted slogans against police high-handedness in the assembly as the motion, the sixth against a police officer in this session, was tabled by BVA MLA Kshitij Thakur. BJP MLA Nana Patole said the cops were becoming arrogant as they were shielded by the home minister. — Sharad Vyas KSHITIJ THAKUR An MLA from Nalasopara, the 33-year-old is the son of former Vasai-Virar legislator Hitendra Thakur. The Bahujan Vikas Aghadi MLA married at a mass ceremony in 2012
RAM KADAM The MNS MLA from Ghatkopar (West) was suspended from the Assembly for 4 years in 2009 for slapping Abu Asim Azmi of the Samajwadi Party. The suspension was later revoked. Kadam, 41, is known for his grand Dahi Handi celebrations
MEDICAL REPORT Sub-inspector Sachin Suryavanshi (31) has been admitted to St George Hospital. He has blunt trauma in the chest, neck, abdomen and thighs. His condition is stable
PRIVILEGE AND PROCEDURE BREACH OF PRIVILEGE | An infringement of one of the specific privileges of the House or its Members, which prevents them from carrying out their functions.
    A breach of privilege motion can be moved by any member if she/he feels that her/his rights as a legislator have been violated
THE PROCEDURE | The Speaker sets up the Special Privileges Committee. The aggrieved member then moves a motion under Rule 272 of the Maharashtra Legislative Rules. The speaker/ chairman, if satisfied, forwards the matter to the committee.
    The committee issues a show-cause notice to the other party and holds a hearing. It then details the action to be taken in a report to the House