Sandhya’s son refuses to take narco test

August 3,2013
Mumbai:Sandhya Singh’s son Raghuveer has refused to undergo a narco test, but agreed to lie-detection and brain-mapping tests on certain conditions.
    Raghuveer’s lawyer Kokila Kalra said, “My client has agreed to undergo the polygraphic and brain-mapping test on the condition that they are conducted at a forensic laboratory outside Maharashtra. The police have sought time till August 8 to file their say.”
    The Thane sessions court was hearing Raghuveer’s reply in regards to various scientific tests that the cops want to conduct on him. The police claimed to have found certain discrepancies in Raghuveer’s statements to them. “He has put certain conditions. We will go through our legal options and file our reply on August 8,” said Himanshu Roy, joint commissioner of police. Roy said though Raghuveer is under scanner, there is no need to arrest him. A source said cops are questioning Raghuveer only due to his contradictory statements. TNN

SCARE AT INCOME TAX BUILDING

To postpone auction, agent makes hoax call

S Ahmed Ali TNN

August 2,2013

Mumbai: An estate agent from Kandivli, who made a hoax call to the police control room regarding a possible blast at the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) at the Income Tax building in Billard Pier to postpone a property auction verdict, was arrested by the crime branch on Thursday.
    Alok Dinesh Tanna (29) thought that if he made a hoax call, the auction verdict, which was going in someone else’s favour, would be postponed and he could manage to get a favourable order at the next hearing. But he ran out of luck when the police control room tracked the cell phone number from which he had made the call.
    On July 26, Tanna anonymously called up the police control room and said he was passing off an important information that he had overheard. He said a bomb has been placed at the Debt Recovery Tribunal and it may go off anytime. “Within a few minutes, several police teams, including the bomb detection and disposal squad (BDDS) and sniffer dogs, were rushed to the spot. After three hours of search, nothing was found,” said Subhash Sawant, senior inspector of unit 11.
    The police registered an offence against unknown persons and the crime branch also conduced a parallel probe. “We traced the person in whose name the Sim card was registered. He said he was not using the number. However, we got some leads from there and picked up Tanna who runs an estate agency near Raghuleela Mall in Kandivli,” said Niket Kaushik, additional commissioner of police (crime).
    On Thursday, the police questioned Tanna on length. He finally admitted to have made the hoax call. “Tanna claims that the order was likely to go in other party’s favour and hence to cancel or postpone the order he made this hoax call,” said investigating officer Chimaji Adhav.
    Tanna, who has been booked under various IPC sections for threatening, giving false information, endangering human life, has been remanded in police custody.

6 get life in matka king Bhagat’s murder

Additional sessions Judge S G Shete on Wednesday sentenced slain matka king Suresh Bhagat’s former wife Jaya Chedda, son Hitesh and four others to life imprisonment. Bhagat and six others had died in an orchestrated road accident in 2008.
    Chedda, Hitesh Bhagat, Chedda’s alleged paramour Suhas Roge, Pravin Shetty alias Pappu, Harish Mandvikar alias Ganiga and Kiran Amle were convicted under
Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code, sentenced to life imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000 each. They were also sentenced to life imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000 each under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy). Both sentences are to run concurrently.
    The court had observed that Suresh Bhagat’s 2008 complaint and writ petition to authorities fearing for his life are evidence in his death, and can be treated as a dying declaration. “The chain of circumstances clearly establishes the guilt of the accused. Thus, the prosecution has proved that the accused hatched the conspiracy and committed the murder,” the court said in a 229-page judgement copy.
    After the verdict, a relieved Hitesh said, “I will definitely file an appeal in the Bombay high court and I am sure I will get justice there. When I got to know that my father was dead, I rushed back to India from Bangkok. This itself shows that I had no idea about all this.”
    The court found substance in the medical evidence that the victims had sustained skull fractures and had died on the spot.
    “The absence of skid marks clearly shows that there was no attempt by the truck driver to apply the brakes, which would have been the case had it been a mere accident. These circumstances clearly show that it was not a mere head-on collision but a deliberate and intentional dash given by the truck to the Scorpio,” the judge observed. The court said that call data records and the cell identification report of the accused showed they were in touch with each other, other witnesses and approvers on the day of the murder.
    The court also relied on the proved testimony of a witness who was with Roge on the day of the murder. The witness said that Roge was watching TV and had remarked on Bhagat’s death saying, “Amhi amchya dushmanala khalas kele (We have killed our enemy).” A witness also testified that Roge had asked him to burn black magic dolls a day before the killing.
    Outside the court, Bhagat’s brother Vinod Bhagat and niece Tanuja were overjoyed. “I will write to the home minister on how the local police had botched up the investigation,” Vinod said. Crime branch had got murder tip-off H ad the Mumbai crime branch not received a tip-off in the case, Alibaug police would have treated matka king Suresh Bhagat’s killing as an accident. There were allegations that his son Hitesh Bhagat tried to bribe crime branch officials to scuttle the probe. An official, though, said, “It is not true. The crime branch invoked MCOCA.” TNN THE CRIME On June 13, 2008, matka king Suresh Bhagat (46) and six others, including his lawyer and bodyguards, were killed on Alibaug-Pen Road when a truck rammed into their SUV. Initially, a case of rash driving was registered in the case. Investigations, though, revealed the accident was allegedly orchestrated by his former wife Jaya Chedda (then 45) and son Hitesh for taking over his gambling business
THOSE HELD GUILTY
    Jaya Chedda, Bhagat’s former wife. He divorced Chedda after suspecting her of an illicit relationship with Suhas Roge, an Arun Gawli aide
    Hitesh Bhagat (32), their son. Both father and son were coaccused in a narcotics case and were to appear in Alibaug court the day Bhagat was killed. Hitesh’s advocate, though, had moved an application seeking exemption from being present due to ill-health. Hitesh, though, flew to Bangkok
    Roge promised a supari of 45 lakh to friend Harish Mandvikar. He then approached truck owner Azimuddin Shaikh
    Mandvikar lured Shaikh by saying “he just wanted to break somebody’s hands and legs”. Shaikh was promised 5 lakh. He later turned approver in the case
Pravin Shetty, who drove the killer truck, told the police that Mandvikar paid him 3 lakh to ram into Bhagat’s SUV
The orchestrated accident was Roge’s idea, said the police
Kiran Poojari followed Bhagat to Alibaug and alerted driver Shetty. He, too, turned approver
Kiran Amle was at the meetings and execution of the crime
THE PUNISHMENT
    Sessions Judge S G Shete sentenced Jaya Chedda, Hitesh Bhagat and the other accused Pravin Shetty alias Pappu, Harish Mandvikar alias Ganiga, Suhas Roge and Kiran Amle on Wednesday
    They were convicted under IPC’s Section 302 (murder) and sentenced to life imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000 each. They were also sentenced to life imprisonment and fined Rs 20,000 each under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy). Both sentences are to run concurrently

SENTENCED: Bhagat’s ex-wife Jaya Chedda with son Hitesh at the sessions court on Monday

OVERWHELMED: Suresh Bhagat’s niece Tanuja Bhagat with parents outside the court on Wednesday

City visa agent gets 7 yrs for being Pak spy 

July 15, 2013

 
Mumbai: A sessions court on Monday sentenced a visa agent to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment for being a Pakistani spy. Mazgaon resident Javed Mozawala (32) was convicted under the Official Secrets Act after being found guilty
of being in possession of sensitive documents such as the telephone directory of the defence command headquarters and pictures of vital installations. This is the second conviction of a suspected Pakistani agent in two years.
    Mozawala, a resident of Mazgaon (East), was arrested on December 9, 2010 on charges of spying. Elaborating on the grounds of Mozawala’s conviction (under the Act’s section 4—communication with foreign agents) judge Vrushali Joshi said, “The accused was in contact with persons in the Pakistan embassy (sic) named Jamal Bhatti and Abdul Latif Bhatti who were from Pakistan.”

Javed Mozawala was held with sensitive defence documents.

Sharma has no plans to rejoin force, wants to relax

S Ahmed Ali | TNN

July 13, 2013
Mumbai: Former ecounter specialist and dismissed cop Pradeep Sharma may have been acquitted in the Lakhan Bhaiya encounter case, but question marks persist over his reinstatement in the police force. Sharma himself told TOI on Friday that he does not intend to rejoin the force, as there was “a lobby against him”.
    “I have faced enough humiliation at the police station, in various jails, hospitals and court. Even if I fight a legal battle and come back, this lobby won’t allow me to work peacefully. I had enough experience of serving in the force. Now I want to relax and give time to my family.”
    Sharma said he was framed in the case by a certain IPS officer “for reasons best known to him.”
    He said on the fateful day, he was not present at the encounter site and yet the SIT arrested him. “Ballistics reports were fabricated to frame me,” Sharma said.
    Sources said even if Sharma were keen to return to the force, he faces two hurdles. First, the state had appealed against his reinstatement in the Bombay High Court.
    The other hurdle is that in the wake of SIT’s plan to appeal against his acquittal, the home department may reinstate him but give him a side posting.
    Sharma said, “I have come out clean purely on merit. But will anybody probe why I was fixed? Will they return the three and half years I spent in jail because of which my family had to suffer?”
WHO IS HE? Pradeep Sharma
was an encounter specialist who was dismissed for alleged underworld connections and arrested in the encounter case
WHY WAS HE ACQUITTED? Sources said Sharma, whom the SIT had accused of firing at Lakhan Bhaiya, was acquitted mainly on the basis of the ballistics report, which was found to be questionable

Won’t rest till Pradeep Sharma is convicted: Victim’s advocate bro

S Ahmed Ali & Rebecca Samervel | TNN

July 13, 2013
Mumbai: “I am satisfied that the encounter was proved to be fake and relieved that seven years of my hard work have been rewarded by the justice of law. I am only upset that the main accused, Pradeep Sharma, has been acquitted,” said Lakhan Bhaiya’s advocate brother Ramprasad Gupta who fought a legal battle to prove that his brother death was a “cold-blooded murder”. He added they would seek enhancement of charges aga inst 13 convicts for whom the prosecution had sought the death sentence.
    Gupta clarified that he won’t rest till he “gets” Sharma. “The state is going to go in appeal but in case it does not, then I will appeal against Sharma’s acquittal.”
    Reacting to the convicted accused, who said that his brother was a gangster, he said, “Yes, my brother was a criminal. But that was in the past. He had been successfully rehabilitated and was living a normal life when he was murdered. And even if he was a criminal, it does not mean the police have a right to kill him. They could have arrested him instead.”
    Though he has received threats along the way, he never backed down. Ramprasad was threatened when he approached the police after prime witness Anil Bheda’s body was found burnt in a remote bungalow in the Manor jungle.
    Prior to Bheda’s disappearance, he had also received calls threatening him with death if he didn’t turn hostile in court. He also said that the entire process has been a drain on his financial resources. “I have had to go against my family’s wishes to pursue the matter. My wife has been very worried about my safety and has time and again insisted that I stop.”
    He further said that even filing the appeal will cost him around Rs 17,000 as he will have to pay around Rs 10,000 to procure a certified judgement copy. The copy is expected to be around 2,000 pages long. Looking at the future, Gupta said he will have to get back to practising law full time to sustain himself and his family.
    In November 2006, after Lakhan Bhaiya had been picked up by plainclothes policemen, Ramprasad faxed and telegraphed then Mumbai police commissioner A N Roy saying his brother was in danger of a staged encounter. Ramprasad later visited the fake encounter site and did his own probe. A security guard there told him that there had been no firing, but rather the road had been cleared and a body dumped. He approached the Bombay High Court and sought a magisterial probe.
WHO IS HE? He is Lakhan Bhaiya’s advocate brother,
Ramprasad Gupta, who fought a legal battle to prove that his brother’s death was a ‘cold-blooded murder’
THREATS TO HIS LIFE He has received threats along the way. He was threatened when he approached the police after prime witness Anil Bheda’s burnt body was found in a remote bungalow in the Manor jungle

No reason to rejoice or be sad: Bheda’s frightened wife

S Ahmed Ali | TNN

July 13, 2013
Mumbai: Aruna, wife of deceased key witness Anil Bheda in the Lakhan Bhaiya case, says she has been scared ever since her husband was mysteriously killed and burnt in the Manor jungles of Thane, soon after the encounter in 2006.
    “I don’t have any reason to rejoice or be saddened. I lost my husband. I don’t want to say anything on the case,” said Aruna when TOI contacted her. On November 11, 2006, estate agent Anil Bheda and Lakhan Bhaiya had gone to refill a SIM card when plain-clothes policemen picked them up and took them separately to the D N Nagar police station.
    Bheda later gave a statement saying that the next day he was told that Lakhan Bhaiya was killed in a police encounter. The police then took him to Kolhapur before bringing him back and keeping him in a hotel in Andheri. He was allegedly threatened with Lakhan Bhaiya’s fate if he revealed anything.
    Bheda told the magistrate that on the fateful day he left for Shirdi and didn’t know where Gupta had gone. Later, when the SIT started probing, Bheda told the truth and started getting threat calls.
WHO IS BHEDA? He is the prime witness in the
    case who gave a statement that the day after he and Lakhan Bhaiya were picked up by plain-clothes policemen, he was told that Lakhan Bhaiya was killed in a police encounter
HOW DID HE DIE His burnt body was found in the Manor jungles of Thane soon after the encounter

Drama in court as sentences read out

Rebecca Samervel & S Ahmed Ali | TNN

    The sessions court on Friday granted the convicts six weeks to file their appeal before the Bombay High Court. The accused were fined a total of around Rs 10 lakh, while Sharma’s release was directed against a security of Rs 10,000 to be furnished within four weeks.
    Judge Jadhavar, who started pronouncing the sentences at 3 pm, first called out Pradeep Sharma’s name and said, “Accused number one is acquitted of all charges.”
    Sharma, however, told TOI that in view of “the lobby” working against him, he would not want to rejoin the police force. “I had enough humiliation at police stations and at various jails, hospitals and court. Even if I fight a legal battle and come back, this lobby won’t allow me to work peacefully. I had enough experience serving in the force. Now I want to relax and give time to my family,” he said.
    Considerable drama was witnessed in court before and after the judge pronounced the sentences. Before commencement of proceedings, convicted police constable Tanaji Desai requested the court to allow him to talk for two minutes.
    “I have worked sincerely for 20 years and don’t want the police morale to go down because of this [verdict]. If there were no people like Vijay Salaskar (slain senior police inspector and encounter specialist) and Pradeep Sharma, Mumbai would be in danger. Gupta had committed several murders. His brother is a criminal lawyer. He had the power to save him but he did not. We have become victims of a gangster,” Desai said.
    The reference to Lakhan Bhaiya’s brother, Ramprasad Gupta, was because it was he who had filed a writ petition in this case.
    The court directed Desai to refrain from getting personal and later told him that nothing he said would be taken on record.
    After the sentencing, police constable Sandip Sardar’s wife charged into the courtroom and said she wanted to address the court. When asked to calm down, she screamed, “Only I will talk and everyone else will keep quiet.”
    Joined by the families of other convicts, she said, “Punish me too. My husband is innocent. We thought you are our God and had faith in the legal system. But this is a very wrong judgement. If you are going to punish our husbands, you will have to punish us too. I want death. We will also die and you will be responsible. For one person, you will destroy 21 families.”
    Reacting to the outburst, the judge said, “I have heard you. But just as they have done their duty, so have I.”
    Janardhan Bhanange, who had allegedly hatched the plot to kill Lakhan Bhaiya, was brought to the court on a stretcher. He told the court he had nothing to do with the encounter. “I have been in this [handicapped] state for several years now,” he said. His lawyer filed an application saying he still needed to be in hospital.
PRADEEP SHARMA’S ACQUITTAL Prime accused Sharma was acquitted for lack of direct evidence against him, except for the ballistic report which stated that one of the five bullets shot at Gupta belonged to Sharma’s licensed weapon. Sharma’s lawyer argued the ballistic report was fabricated and none of the eyewitnesses gave statements against him
THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF WITNESS ANIL BHEDA Anil Bheda, a key witness and whistleblower in the case, was mysteriously killed. His remains were found in the Manor jungles. The state CID, which investigated the case, failed to make any progress in the case, though the needle of suspicion fell on the policemen
THE ROAD AHEAD While the SIT will appeal against the acquittal of Pradeep Sharma, the rest of those convicted will appeal before the Bombay High Court. The state will also file an enhancement of sentence of the 13 accused given the life sentence. The prosecution had sought the death sentence against them. None of them will be able to join the force except Sharma. The MAT had set aside Sharma’s dismissal but the state went in appeal in the high court. The matter is still pending
    I have worked
    sincerely for 20 years. If there were no people like Vijay Salaskar (slain senior inspector and encounter specialist) and Pradeep Sharma, Mumbai would be in danger. Gupta has committed several murders. His brother is a criminal lawyer. We have become victims of a gangster
Tanaji Desai | CONVICTED CONSTABLE
I will definitely file an appeal in the Bombay High Court. The prosecution has too many questions to answer. They suppressed a lot of evidence before the court. In fact, two accused named in the initial FIR have not even been named in SIT’s investigation. I am a victim of this system
Pradeep Suryawanshi
I am satisfied that the encounter was proved fake. We will file an appeal against the acquittal of Pradeep Sharma and seek enhancement of charges against 13 convicts for whom we had sought the death sentence. I have spent the past seven years on this case and drained my resources. I have had to go against my family’s wishes to pursue it
Ramprasad Gupta | LAKHAN BHAIYA’S BROTHER AND ADVOCATE
I have come out clean purely on merit. But will anybody probe why I was fixed? Will they return the three and half years I spent in jail because of which my family had to suffer?
Pradeep Sharma | ACQUITTED DISMISSED COP
I don’t have any reason to rejoice or be saddened. I lost my husband. I don’t want to say anything on the case
Anil Bheda’s wife COURT SPEAK
    Reacting
    to the cries of the convicted cops’ families, the judge said, ‘ I have heard you. Just as they have done their duties, so have I’

Acquitted former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma outside the court

KHAKI SHAMED

13 city policemen sentenced to life in prison for fake encounter killing

State May Challenge Cop’s Acquittal

Rebecca Samervel & S Ahmed Ali TNN

Mumbai: A sessions court on Friday handed out life sentences to all 21 convicts, including 13 policemen, in the case of the 2006 fake encounter killing of former Chhota Rajan aide Lakhan Bhaiya alias Ramnarayan Gupta.
    This is the first encounter case in Mumbai in which cops — six police officers and seven constables — have been convicted. The court had held them guilty on July 5.
    Among the convicts is former encounter specialist Pradeep Suryavanshi. The main accused, former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma, has been acquitted.
    While the life terms were given under various charges including criminal conspiracy to kidnap or commit murder, sessions judge V D Jadhavar also pronounced sentences ranging from three to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for destruction of evidence, kidnapping, and so on. All sentences will run concurrently.
    The convicts’ families said they will appeal against the verdict in the HC, while Sharma, dismissed from service in 2008, said he was not in favour of rejoining the police force.
    Special public prosecutor Vidya Kasle will ask the state to appeal against Sharma’s acquittal and seek enhancement of charges against some of those convicted. Kasle had sought death penalty for the convicted cops and two others.
    Lakhan Bhaiya was picked up from Vashi and killed in an encounter at Versova on Nov 11, 2006.
Lakhan Bhaiya encounter case
Total no of convictions
21
Police
officers
6 Constables 7 Others 8
The sentence Accused convicted under 25 charges. Two main charges under which all received life sentences — IPC Section 120 B read with Section 364 (criminal conspiracy to kidnap or abduct in order to murder); IPC Section 120 B read with section 302 (criminal conspiracy to commit murder)
The main players Encounter specialist Pradeep Suryavanshi, constables Tanaji Desai, Ratnakar Kamble, Vinayak Shinde, all accused of orchestrating the encounter. Desai pulled the trigger
    Private citizens Shailander Pandey, Hitesh Solanki, Akhil Khan alias Bobby had key roles in the killing
THE ROAD AHEAD
    SIT will appeal against the acquittal of Pradeep Sharma
    The convicted will appeal before the Bombay high court

Convicted encounter specialist Pradeep Suryavanshi outside the court with his daughter

THREATS TO MLA

MCOCA invoked against 2 accused

S Ahmed Ali TNN

Mumbai: “You settle the matter peacefully or … Ram Gopal Verma will soon be making a film on you Ek Tha MLA”: This is one of texts allegedly sent by gangster Chhota Shakeel to legislator Baba Siddiqui.
    Bandra businessman Shams Ansari Sayyed (54) and Shakeel aide Ahmed Mansoor alias Langda (52) were arrested by the anti-extortion cell on Monday for threatening the Bandra MLA and the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act has been invoked in the case. TOI was first to report about the threats on June 30.
    Sayyed and Mansoor were produced before a MCOCA court and remanded in police custody till July 11. Joint police commissioner (crime) Himanshu Roy refused to elaborate. Mansoor, a former member of Dawood gang, was arrested in the 1993 serial bomb blasts case but later acquitted. He is a witness in the Chand Madar murder case in which he deposed against diesel smuggler Mohammed Ali. In his complaint, Siddiqui alleged that a piece of land on Hill Road had been under dispute for a while with a businessman who owns 20% of the plot. Siddiqui said he had received calls from the underworld asking him to settle the dispute amicably.The Dubai-based brother of Sayyed, Jabbar, is believed to have played a role in threatening Siddiqui, cops said.

Cops may invoke MCOCA in Abu Salem attack case

S Ahmed Ali TNN

Mumbai: The Navi Mumbai crime branch has sought legal opinion if the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) can be invoked in the Abu Salem attack case.
    Devendra Jagtap alias JD had shot at the extradited gangster inside Navi Mumbai’s Taloja jail at the behest of Chhota Shakeel, said the investigators.
    The police will have to fulfil all the conditions or the court will drop MCOCA charges like it did in the 2010 murder case of advocate Shahid Azmi, said sources.
    In the Shahid Azmi murder case, charges under the Act were dropped as the court found no evidence to suggest that “pecuniary (monetary) gains were made in the crime”, a mandatory aspect for MCOCA.
    “We are doing the groundwork to find out if MCOCA can be applied or not. It’s important to invoke MCOCA as it will send a strong message that such acts won’t be tolerated. Also, there’s a possibility of Salem’s lawyer approaching the Portugal government for his repatriation from India,” said a senior IPS officer. Salem is being tried for his role in the 1993 serial blasts in the city, murder and a dozen extortion cases.
    Salem was extradited from Portugal in 2005 after the Indian government gave an executive assurance that he would not be awarded the death penalty or charged with any section of the law which entailed a jail term of more than 25 years.
    The police claim to have established pecuniary gain in the Salem attack case; JD, who was going through a financial crunch, had allegedly received Rs 5 lakh as supari (contract money) from Shakeel’s gang in installments. Shakeel wanted to eliminate Salem due to previous enmity, said the police.
    JD’s friend Manoj Lahmane, who had allegedly supplied the country-made revolver used in the attack on Salem, does not have a past criminal record. “Shakeel and Fahim Machmach, who acted as the mediator between JD and Shakeel, will be shown as wanted accused,” said an investigating officer.
    The Navi Mumbai police said Salem survived the attack because of the three-ftlong cardboard sheets the jail authorities had placed on the gates of each cell.
    “The sheets were placed to prevent cats and rats from entering the cells,” said deputy commissioner of police Shrikant Pathak.
STRINGENT RULES FOR THE STRINGENT ACT
The police had invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) in the 2010 murder case of advocate Shahid Azmi but the court dropped the charges as investigators couldn’t establish that pecuniary (monetary) gains were made in the crime
    The police claim to have established pecuniary gain in the Salem attack case; JD, who was going through a financial crunch, had allegedly received Rs 5 lakh as supari (contract money) from Shakeel’ gang in installments
In 2010, the court dropped MCOCA in the murder of Matka king Suresh Bhagat and six others who were allegedly killed by his estranged wife Jaya and son Hitesh Bhagat in 2008. In this case too, the police had failed to convince the court about the pecuniary gain

Dawood aide Iqbal Mirchi dies in UK

S Ahmed Ali TNN

Mumbai: Fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s close aide Iqbal Memon Merchant alias Iqbal Mirchi, once ranked among the world’s top 50 drug lords, died of cardiac arrest in London early on Thursday morning.
    India had twice tried to get him extradited since he fled in the mid-nineties after Maharashtra issued a detention order against him.
    Mirchi, 63, was on a walk near his London house when he suffered a heart attack, his elder brother Kadir Memon, who lives in Mahim, said. He is survived by two wives, Heena Kauser and Hazra, two daughters and a son.
    “Mirchi’s death is a big blow to the drugs syndicate, particularly the D gang. It’s unfortunate he died before being deported,” Himanshu Roy, joint commissioner of police (crime) said.

ndia failed to get drug lord Iqbal Mirchi extradited

S Ahmed Ali TNN

    An Interpol red corner notice (an international warrant) was issued against Iqbal Mirchi in 1994 on the Central Bureau of Investigation’s request.
    In 1995, officers from the Scotland Yard raided Mirchi’s East London home and arrested him on drugs and terrorism charges in connection with the 1993 Mumbai blasts.
    But an extradition request by India was turned down by magistrates.
    Scotland Yard’s investigation of Mirchi, which ended in 1999, found no evidence of criminal activity and in 2001, the UK Home Office granted him indefinite leave to remain in the UK.
    Though Mirchi’s family claimed that he had only two cases pending against him – one for the murder of his associate Amar Suvarna in 1994 at Kala Ghoda and the other for the seizure of five gunny bags of mandrax from him in Worli in 1995 – the Mumbai police said there were at least three more cases.
    His brother, Kadir Memon, a resident of Mahim, said Mirchi had twice offered to surrender to Indian authorities.
    “Why did the Indian government not accept his offer to surrender in 2004? He had offered to surrender on the condition that he be escorted by the police from the airport to the court as he feared some officers wanted to kill him in a fake encounter,” the brother said.
    Mirchi, son of a spice seller from Null Bazaar and a school dropout, began his crime career as a taxi driver transporting drugs concealed in bags of dry red chillies and spices.
    He later became a drug baron and owned a pub in Worli, where he came in touch with politicians, Bollywood actors, police officers and bureaucrats. After he fled India and settled in London, Mumbai police sources said, he invested his ill-gotten money in real estate.
    In 2012, Mirchi was arrested in London and charged with threatening to kill his 41-year-old nephew, Kadir Nadeem.
    The CBI then attempted to revive its extradition request, but the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service dropped charges against him because of insufficient evidence.
MERCHANT OF NARCOTICS
Iqbal Mirchi, 63 Real name | Iqbal Memon Merchant Family Father, dead, ran a spice shop in Null Bazaar. This is the origin of the alias Mirchi
Five brothers. One died a few years ago. The others, all businessmen, are in Mumbai
Two wives. Heena Kauser, the daughter of Bollywood producer-director K Asif and also an actress, and Hazra
Two daughters, both married, live in London
One son, lives in London
CASES Murder | Accused of killing his manager Amar Suvarna near Jehangir Art Gallery in 1995
Status | Mirchi was charged as main conspirator; erstwhile Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act was invoked against him; was declared absconding; trial didn’t begin. Six people were arrested but acquitted
Drug seizure | Five gunny bags of mandrax were seized from Worli in 1994. Mirchi was allegedly involved in the drug’s smuggling to Africa. In all, had two criminal cases against him
GANG CONNECTIONS Was a close aide of Dawood Ibrahim. Used to supply drugs to D-Company Was on good terms with Chhota Shakeel, Faheem Machmach and Anees Ibrahim
PROPERTIES Mumbai | Flat in Null Bazaar
Benami | Flats in Null Bazaar, Nagpada, Agripada, Juhu and Madanpura. Said to be worth more than Rs 600 crore
All the properties are sealed London | Six-bedroom house in an exclusive area of Hornchurch, a large suburb in East London. Had lived here since 1995 LIFE IN UNDERWORLD
Started out as a taxi driver transporting drugs concealed in bags of dry red chillies and spices
Mirchi owned a pub in Worli, where he came in touch with politicians, Bollywood actors, police officers and bureaucrats
The police had registered five offences against Mirchi: two drugsrelated, one for murder, one for rioting and one for a crime in Raigad district
In 1994, an Interpol red corner notice (an international warrant) was issued against him on the Central Bureau of Investigation’s request
    A UN report once claimed that he was a senior figure in Dawood Ibrahim’s worldwide crime syndicate
    In 1995, officers from Scotland Yard raided Mirchi’s East London home and arrested him on drugs and terrorism charges in connection with the 1993 Mumbai blasts
    An extradition request by India was turned down by magistrates
    Scotland Yard’s investigation, which ended in 1999, did not find any evidence of criminal activity against him
    As DCP of the antinarcotics bureau from 1995
    to 1997, the late Hemant
    Karkare tried to form a foolproof case against Mirchi, but was unsuccessful
In 2001, the UK home office granted him indefinite leave to remain on British soil
In 2011, he was arrested by the Metropolitan Police and charged with threatening to kill his 41-year-old nephew
The CBI attempted to revive its extradition request, but the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service dropped the charges against him because of insufficient evidence
It was rumoured that he was also under investigation over the Indian Premier League match-fixing and betting scandal
He had repeatedly expressed a wish to return to India if the CBI dropped its extradition claims

Iqbal Mirchi owned a flat in this Juhu society

JD hid gun in jail loudspeaker for 2 months: Police

Mateen Hafeez & S Ahmed Ali TNN

July 7,2013
Mumbai: Devendra Jagtap alias JD, who last week shot at extradited gangster Abu Salem inside the Taloja prison, had kept his weapon hidden in a jail loudspeaker for two months, said the police on Friday.
    JD told the Navi Mumbai crime branch that he sharpened a spoon and used it as a screwdriver to open the loudspeaker, through which announcements are made to inmates in the anda cell.
    So far, the police have arrested JD for attempt to murder and the supplier of the weapon, Manoj Lahmane. Fugitive gangster Chhota Shakeel is believed to have hired JD for the job.
    On the night of June 27, JD fired twice at Salem. The first bullet hit Salem’s fingers, the next hit a cupboard. As JD pulled the trigger a third time, the revolver got jammed and he was overpowered by the jail constables.
    “JD had also looked for a chance to eliminate Salem twice before, but could not succeed since jail officials were patrolling the anda cell’s corridor on both occasions,” a police officer said.
    The officer said JD took just a minute to open the speaker and hide the gun. “It’s very strange how he did it,” the officer said.
    After the first bullet injured him, Salem reacted fast and hid behind the cupboard in his cell.
    “Salem told us that he suspected there would be an attempt to kill him and so he covered his cell with cardboard and other material,” deputy police commissioner of the Navi Mumbai crime branch Shrikant Phatak said.
    Police officers said JD was now frustrated as he would be under a strict vigil and his image had also taken a beating in the Dawood gang after failing to kill Salem.
Failed 2012 plan to murder Salem D evendra Jagtap alias JD has told the police that Chhota Shakeel last year hired a contract killer from the Arthur Road jail to kill Abu Salem, but the plan failed. “Shakeel got the contract killer transferred to Taloja jail, but he could not execute the plan. Later, Shakeel selected JD for this job,” an officer said.

13 city cops guilty of killing builder in fake encounter

1st Such Conviction In Mum; Sentencing Likely Next Week

Rebecca Samervel & S Ahmed Ali TNN

July 6,2013
Mumbai: In the first ever conviction in an encounter case in Mumbai, a sessions court on Friday held 21 persons, 13 of them policemen, guilty for the fake encounter of alleged Chhota Rajan aide Ramnarayan Gupta alias Lakhan Bhaiya in 2006. The court, however,acquitted former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma who was the prime accused in the case.
    Of the convicted cops, six are police officers, among them former encounter specialist Pradeep Suryavanshi, and seven constables. They, along with the other accused, have been held guilty under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including murder, abduction, conspiracy and destruction of evidence.
    Sessions judge V D Jadhavar will pronounce the sentence next week.
    The prosecution case was that Lakhan Bhaiya was picked up by a police team from Vashi and killed in an encounter in Versova on November 11, 2006. After his brother Ramprasad Gupta filed a writ petition in the Bombay high court, the HC in February 2008 ordered a magisterial inquiry into the matter. The magistrate in his report said Lakhan Bhaiya had been murdered in cold blood. The high court then formed a Special Investigation Team headed by then deputy commissioner of police K M M Prasanna, and an FIR was filed.
BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS, STAIN ON KHAKI
THE CASE
    On November 11, 2006, 'reformed realtor' Ramnarayan Gupta alias Lakhan Bhaiyya (33) and his associate Anil Bheda were picked up from Vashi by a police team in plainclothes. The cops said they suspected that they were members of Chhota Rajan's gang
    Later in the day, Gupta was shot dead. Police claimed he was killed in an encounter in Versova
    Key witness Bheda was initially lodged in jail; his remains were found in a jungle in Manor in 2011
THE ROAD TO JUSTICE Based on a complaint by Gupta's brother, the Bombay high court ordered a magisterial probe into his killing in February 2008
In August 2008, the magistrate concluded it was a "cold blooded murder"
On Friday, a sessions court acquitted Pradeep Sharma of all charges but convicted 21 others, including 6 officers and 7 constables
    The sentence is expected to be
    pronounced by the court on Monday THE MOTIVE: The SIT formed to probe the case said the murder conspiracy was hatched by Gupta's former friend, Navi Mumbai builder Janardan Bhanage, after they fell out over a tract of land. Bhanage allegedly roped in Sharma and Suryavanshi to execute his plan

Pradeep Suryavanshi, at left, who was leading the police team when Gupta was killed, was found guilty of murder

The victim Ramnarayan Gupta (L) and PI Pradeep Sharma

‘Shakeel paid 5L for foreign gun but shooter got desi weapon’

S Ahmed Ali & Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: Fugitive gangster Chhota Shakeel apparently paid a middleman around Rs 5 lakh to supply an imported weapon to Devendra Jagtap alias JD to kill Abu Salem. But the middleman passed on a country-made revolver, worth Rs 20,000 only, and the gun got jammed as JD shot at Salem, said a source.
    Last Thursday, J D fired three rounds at Salem inside Taloja jail. While one bullet missed the gangster, the second one hit him on his hand and for the third bullet, the trigger of the country-made revolver got jammed. “Our sources said Rs 5 lakh and above was paid to the middleman 15 to 20 days in advance. But the middleman thought that when a country-made weapon could do the job, why spend Rs 2 or 3 lakh for a sophisticated gun,” said an officer. J D had told the Navi Mumbai crime branch that the hit was ordered by Shakeel and the weapon was supplied by Manoj Lahmane, whom the police are trying to trace. The officers hope that Lahmane might shed light on the middleman.
    Still trying to ascertain the motive behind the attack, the crime branch on Monday picked up JD’s wife, Harshada, from her mother’s home at Dombivli and questioned her about her meeting with her husband on the fateful day. On Thursday, Harshada, along with JD’s associate Karan, met the accused at the sessions court where he was brought for a hearing in the advocate Shahid Azmi murder case. The police rubbished reports that on that day, the accused had celebrated his mentor Santosh Shetty’s birthday.
    As Shakeel has claimed the responsibility for the attack, the city crime branch’s anti-extortion cell summoned Dawood’s brother Iqbal Kaskar, Shakeel’s brother-in-law Saleem Fruit and D gang man Ahmed Langda for questioning. “Kaskar has given his statement and the two others will be called on Tuesday,” said a crime branch officer.
    Salem, meanwhile, missed his train to Hyderabad where he was supposed to attend a hearing in a fake passport case. He was brought to JJ Hospital for medical test, but from there, he could not be taken to the station on time owing to heavy rain and traffic jam. “His hearing in a fake passport was slated for Tuesday but he missed the train. After the attack, jail officials also want to review the security on trains,” said the police.
Shetty lawyer rubbishes gangster’s b’day angle G angster Santosh Shetty and ’93 blasts accused Mustafa Dossa have denied being involved in the attack on Abu Salem. “Reports that gang members celebrated Santosh Shetty’s birthday on Thursday and that the weapon used to attack Salem was smuggled into Taloja jail along with cake and eatables are false. Shetty’s birthday is on March 31. Moreover, he disowned Jagtap alias JD one-and-a-half years ago and Salem and Shetty are good friends,” said Shetty’s lawyer Rajesh Srivastav. He also said on Thursday, Shetty did not attend a hearing in court and stayed back at Arthur Road jail. Srivastav, also appearing for Dossa, made an application saying the police should probe the case as Salem might try to implicate the blasts accused, owing to their previous enmity. “Dossa’s custody may not be handed over to the police without properly verifying the allegations,” he said. Taloja jail officials have submitted areport to special TADA judge Y D Shinde, chronicling the attack. TNN

Salem attacker JD at Thane hospital

Mahim building case given to crime branch

S Ahmed Ali TNN

August 8
Mumbai: The state home department on Tuesday transferred the Altaf Manzil collapse case from the Mahim police to the Mumbai crime branch following complaints from flat owners that the probe was moving at a snail’s pace.
    Ten people were killed and six seriously injured when the Mahim building collapsed on June 10. Lawyer Rizwan Merchant, who lost three family members, welcomed the transfer order. “The Mahim police did not investigate properly. Dedicated officers are needed to handle such a sensitive case since BMC staff and officers are involved.”
    The Mahim police made only two arrests: Iqbal Ibrahim (who bought a ground-floor property in the building and leased it to Sundeep Kumar Bafna for a showroom) and Praveen Rane, a junior engineer with the BMC. Ibrahim’s arrest came after his plea for anticipatory bail was rejected by the sessions court. The court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Bafna, but the police made no attempts to trace or arrest him, said an Altaf Manzil tenant. “Once the warrant was issued, it was the duty of the investigating officer to initiate the process of declaring Bafna absconding to force him to surrender.”
    A source said that when Rane was produced in court for a second time for further remand, neither the police nor the public prosecutor pressed for his custody. Joint commissioner of police (crime) Himanshu Roy has assigned the case to the crime branch’s unit 5, asking it to submit a report in a month. ALTAF MANSION CRASH
INCIDENT Altaf Mansion, officially Aftab Manzil, in Mahim collapsed on
June 10 10 people were killed 6 were injured
Property worth
crores
was destroyed
NAMES IN FIR
    Furniturewala brothers Irfan, Mohammed Ali and Sharif (sons of deceased landlord Altaf) Iqbal Ibrahim, who bought a ground-floor showroom
Sundeep Kumar Bafna, to whom the showroom was leased
Iqbal Ibrahim, who bought a groundfloor showroom Sundeep Kumar Bafna, to whom the showroom was leased
CHARGES IPC sections | 308, attempt to commit culpable homicide; 288, negligent conduct with respect to repairing or pulling down buildings; 304, punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder; 336 & 338, endangering life or personal safety of others; 120B, punishment for criminal conspiracy
HC rejects bail for BMC engineer The high court has rejected the anticipatory bail application of Digambar Satam, a subengineer with the BMC, observing that there was prima facie evidence against him in the Aftab Manzil collapse case. The court will hear on Wednesday applications filed by the state government and advocate Rizwan Merchant seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to landlord Irfan Furniturewala. TNN
BMC REPORT The BMC says no major alteration to the building’s structural frame was observed and the crash was caused by poor construction material

SCARE AT INCOME TAX BUILDING

To postpone auction, agent makes hoax call

S Ahmed Ali TNN

August 3,2013

Mumbai: An estate agent from Kandivli, who made a hoax call to the police control room regarding a possible blast at the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) at the Income Tax building in Billard Pier to postpone a property auction verdict, was arrested by the crime branch on Thursday.
    Alok Dinesh Tanna (29) thought that if he made a hoax call, the auction verdict, which was going in someone else’s favour, would be postponed and he could manage to get a favourable order at the next hearing. But he ran out of luck when the police control room tracked the cell phone number from which he had made the call.
    On July 26, Tanna anonymously called up the police control room and said he was passing off an important information that he had overheard. He said a bomb has been placed at the Debt Recovery Tribunal and it may go off anytime. “Within a few minutes, several police teams, including the bomb detection and disposal squad (BDDS) and sniffer dogs, were rushed to the spot. After three hours of search, nothing was found,” said Subhash Sawant, senior inspector of unit 11.
    The police registered an offence against unknown persons and the crime branch also conduced a parallel probe. “We traced the person in whose name the Sim card was registered. He said he was not using the number. However, we got some leads from there and picked up Tanna who runs an estate agency near Raghuleela Mall in Kandivli,” said Niket Kaushik, additional commissioner of police (crime).
    On Thursday, the police questioned Tanna on length. He finally admitted to have made the hoax call. “Tanna claims that the order was likely to go in other party’s favour and hence to cancel or postpone the order he made this hoax call,” said investigating officer Chimaji Adhav.
    Tanna, who has been booked under various IPC sections for threatening, giving false information, endangering human life, has been remanded in police custody.

NEHRU NAGAR GRAFT

36 cops had taken bribes: ACB report

S Ahmed Ali TNN

August 9,2013
Mumbai: The anti-corruption bureau (ACB), probing the graft case against 36 constables from Nehru Nagar police station in Kurla, has concluded that prima facie they had demanded and accepted money to allow illegal constructions.
    The ACB will file the initial report before the high court on Thursday. The complainant,
Mohammed Khan (50), had filed a plea in the HC seeking direction to set up a special investigation team to probe the matter. “The final report will be filed after we get the CCTV footage reports from the forensics lab,” said an officer.
    In April, the 36 constables were suspended after Khan caught them on camera accepting bribes. The ACB, which was directed to probe the matter, collected 21 CDs of the CCTV footages, voice samples and recorded statements of the 36 policemen and 24 independent witnesses.
    In March, Khan was demolishing the mezzanine floor to convert his friend’s groundplus-one barrack at Kurla Refugee Camp into a flat, when a few cops allegedly demanded money and threatened to frame him in a case for carrying out illegal extension. After paying Rs 45,000 over 10 days to cops, Khan set up a CCTV camera in the barrack. Over the next 10 days, the camera caught the cops allegedly accepting bribe. Khan submitted the footage to the ACB, but the officials refused to accept it. He then went to the police commisioner. BMC report awaited S ources said initially Mohammed Khan had also complained of harassment and extortion by civic officials, but when the BMC failed to take any action, he conducted the sting operation. Municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte had ordered a probe to verify Khan’s claim that civic officials had demanded bribe; the report is awaited.

Sandhya murder: Husband summoned for questioning

S Ahmed Ali TNN

Mumbai: The city crime branch has summoned Sandhya Singh’shusband Jaiprakash
Singh for questioning in her murder case. Jaiprakash, who is posted as Customs commissioner in Indore, has been asked to appear beforethe policeon August12.
    Jaiprakash has been making contradictory statements, said sources. “Initially, Jaiprakashsaidthat Sandhyawascarrying ornaments worth Rs 24 lakh on the day she went missing. Later, he claimed that she was on her way to a bank to deposit gold and diamond ornamentsworthRs1crore,”said an officer. “During investigations, we learnt that Sandhya had in fact gone to the bank to withdraw money.Wewantto askJaiprakash what made him think that Sandhya was carrying the ornaments andthatshewanted todepositthem in thebank.”
    Thecrimebranchon Thursday opposed the conditions listed by Sandhya’s son Raghuveer for polygraph and brain-mapping tests. Raghuveer, through hislawyer Kokila Kalra,had refusedto givehisconsentfor narco analysis. For polygraph and brain mapping tests, Raghuveer listed several conditions, including that the tests be conducted out of Maharashtra. “If hehas nothing tohide,then why is he putting all these conditions,”said an officer.
    The court adjourned the matter tillAugust20.

Sandhya’s son (L) and husband (R) have been giving contradictory statements, say the police

‘My son may have hand in Sandhya murder’

Raghuveer Often Fought With His Mom: Jaiprakash

S Ahmed Ali TNN

Mumbai: Jaiprakash Singh, the husband of Navi Mumbai resident Sandhya Singh, on Monday told the Mumbai crime branch that their son Raghuveer may have been involved in her murder. His statement gives a new direction to the investigation, which was heading nowhere.
    Jaiprakash is a customs and central excise commissioner in Indore. Sandhya, sister of music composers Jatin-Lalit and actors Vijeta and Sulakshana Pandit, went missing on December 13, 2012. A month later, her skull and skeletal parts in a nearby marsh.
    In his written statement to the police, Jaiprakash said that his son was a drug addict and often fought with Sandhya over petty issues. “Hence, he suspects his son’s role in the murder to some extent,” said a crime branch officer.
    Jaiprakash has again been called for questioning as his earlier statements had been inconsistent. Jaiprakash had first told the police that his wife was carrying ornaments worth Rs 24 lakh on the day she went missing, but later said that the jewellery were worth Rs 1 crore and she had gone to the bank to deposit them. “But our investigation showed that she never went inside the bank,” the officer said. Jaiprakash had also said that he did not interact much with his wife as he was in Indore.
    The crime branch had moved court seeking permission to conduct scientific tests on Raghuveer after he refused to cooperate with the probe. His statements were also inconsistent, they added. “He hosted a party at home a day after his mother went missing. His girlfriend Shreya was present at the party,” said an officer. Raghuveer had told relatives that his mother was at her brothers’ place in Juhu. “He had also told the domestic help not to wait for his mother, though she had asked them to be at home,” the officer said.
    The crime branch will conduct a narcoanalysis test on Shreya, who is at a rehabilitation centre. Last week, Raghuveer had refused to undergo narcoanalysis, and agreed only for brain-mapping and lie-detection tests on the condition that they are conducted outside the state. The police have objected to this and the court is likely to give its order on August 20.
THE CASE DEC 13, 2012 | Sandhya Singh, wife of Indorebased customs and central excise commissioner Jaiprakash Singh, goes missing. She had left home to go to a bank in Nerul JAN 28, 2013 | Two British birdwatchers find skeletal remains in nearby marsh; family identifies Sandhya
WHY RAGHUVEER IS UNDER SCANNER He tells the police Sandhya went to a bank on the day she had disappeared, while he tells the domestic help that she had gone to her brothers’ home in Juhu
Raghuveer, who is allegedly a drug addict, often used to fight with Sandhya over petty issues, especially money

Raghuveer and his father Jaiprakash Singh

Son seeks anticipatory bail in murder case of Sandhya Singh

S Ahmed Ali

Aug 14,2013,

Mumbai: In the fresh development in the Sandhya Singh murder case, her son Raghuveer has now approached the Bombay high court seeking anticipatory bail. Last month, the Thane sessions court had rejected his anticipatory bail after the city crime branch opposed it.
    Sources said Raghuveer’s move comes as he is under the police scanner and also because his father Jaiprakash Singh, central excise commissioner Indore, who was questioned on Monday, had told police that he suspects his son may be involved in the murder.
    “From the circumstances of the murder, we strongly suspect Raghuveer but we are not very confident. Hence, we want to conduct scientific tests on Raghuveer so that the truth comes out,” said an officer.
    On Tuesday, Jaiprakash sent this reporter an SMS stating that he has indeed told the cops that he suspected his son’s involvement but the Navi Mumbai had given Raghuveer a clean chit. “Mumbai police is resorting to half truths and conducting a media trial. Half truths can be more damaging than outright falsehood,” his SMS stated.
    On Wednesday, the Thane sessions court will decide on Raghuveer’s plea that the brain-mapping and polygraph tests on him be conducted outside Maharashtra.However, sources said the crime branch is all set to carry narco-analysis on Raghuveer’s girlfriend Shreya who is at a rehabilitation centre.

FOR DAUGHTER’S HIGHER STUDIES

Rajan wife’s plea to travel abroad rejected

S Ahmed Ali TNN 

August 14,2013

Mumbai: The special Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act court on Monday rejected underworld gangster Chhota Rajan’s wife Sujata Nikhalje’s plea seeking permission to travel to the UK where her eldest daughter is pursuing higher studies.
    MCOCA judge Prithviraj Chavan on Monday rejected the plea after the city crime branch filed a report stating that if she travelled abroad, she might meet her husband, Rajan Nikhalje, or might aid him in crime. Her advocate, Abad Ponda, confirmed the development but said he was “yet to get the orders”.
    Sujata had filed an application before the MCOCA court stating that her eldest daughter, Ankita, had completed her graduation and was now seeking admission in MBA in a UK institute. It said Sujata wanted to go there and help her get admission. Sujata, who has three daughters, said just being a gangster’s wife should not be reason for the authorities to deny her right to travel abroad.
    “We had filed a report stating that an extortion case against her is still pending and
if she is allowed to fly out of India, she may try to meet her fugitive husband, aid and abet in crime and may not return to India,” said an officer.
    In 2006, Sujata was arrested on the charge of being involved in extortion from builders. The case is still awaiting trial. This is the second time that Sujata’s request to travel abroad has been rejected.