Minister Kadam granted arms licences to fugitive gangster Nilesh Ghaywal’s brother; fresh FIR on extortion lodged against siblings

As per the FIR lodged on Thursday, in 2018, Nilesh, Sachin and their gang members Bapu Kadam, Chikya alias Omkar Phatak, Manish Mathwad, Sagar Chowdhary, Mauli Tonde and Nilesh Sharma allegedly barged into a building owned by the complainant businessman.

Nilesh then allegedly threatened the complainant at gunpoint and illegally took possession of 10 apartments in the building located in Kothrud. Police said the gangster took the apartments from the businessman as “extortion”.

The FIR also stated that the apartments were rented out and Bapu Kadam collected the rent from the tenants and gave the money to Nilesh.

Police have booked Nilesh, Sachin and the other accused under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 189(1), 189(2), 191(2), 191(3), 190, 329(4), 308(2), 308(4), 308 (5), 352, 351(2)(3), 296 and sections of the Indian Arms Act. Police said Sachin is also on the run.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab and NCP leader Jayant Patil have blamed Kadam for overriding a police report that denied arms licence to Sachin.

Police had rejected Sachin’s application seeking an arms licence. He had then filed an appeal before the minister, who passed an order in his favour. Kadam posted on his social media account that no offences were pending against “teacher and businessman” Sachin when he decided his appeal for arms licence.

Kadam said that as per the police report, Sachin was acquitted in all the offences lodged against him till the day his appeal was heard. Kadam further stated that he took action as per the law and it was wrong to link him with the ongoing issue.

Meanwhile, former MLA Ravindra Dhangekar, who is now with Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, questioned the role of some persons linked to BJP leader and Minister Chandrkant Patil in supporting the Nilesh Ghaywal gang. Dhangekar pointed out that Patil is an MLA from Kothrud constituency, where the Ghaywal gang has been active for many years.

Last month, on September 17 night, members of the Ghaywal gang allegedly opened fire at a man and attacked a student with sharp weapons in the Kothrud area. Based on the complaints filed by the two victims, two separate FIRs were registered against the assailants. The police further invoked stringent sections of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against Nilesh and eight gang members booked in the two cases.

While some members of his gang were arrested, Nilesh managed to evade the investigators and travelled abroad last month. The police suspect he travelled to London and Switzerland.

A separate FIR was lodged against Ghaywal as a probe revealed that he had procured the passport illegally. Police said Ghaywal had applied for a tatkal passport at the regional passport office in Pune in 2019. In his passport application, he mentioned he was a resident of “Gauri Ghumat, Anandi Bazar, Maliwada Road, Ahmednagar (now renamed Ahilyanagar)”.

He was not found at this address, so the then Ahilyanagar superintendent of police made a “not available” remark on his application and forwarded it to the regional passport office in Pune on January 16, 2020. Still he got the passport and used it for leaving India, police said.

From the homepage

‘Shocked, but it’s a forgotten chapter’: CJI Gavai on shoe-attack in Supreme Court

Muttaqi in India: Why New Delhi is increasing engagement with Afghanistan’s Taliban

Academics, professionals, ex-RJD MLC, famous singer in Prashant Kishor’s first list for Bihar