Builders held for using underworld contacts

The three arrested wanted to grab a plot of land owned by builder Tarun Rawal and forcibly took Rs 83 lakhs from him between November 1996 and 1998. Rawal approached the Athwalines police after Maratha8217;s arrest, whose help they had sought in grabbing the land.

Maratha, meanwhile, has been re-arrested in the Damodar Kutchhi alias Damodar Patel case and remanded for another 11-day period. Patel, a timber trader, approached the police, saying he was kidnapped by Maratha in December 1997 and released after he paid Rs 50 lakhs.

The city police have also secured the arrest warrant of one Dharmesh Shah, another Chhota Rajan gangster, and are likely to bring him to the city on a transfer warrant. Shah is currently in the custody of the Mumbai police, who have arrested him for offences committed there. Shah was reportedly present with Maratha when Kutchhi was kidnapped. Others arrested in extortion cases, namely Ashok Waghani and Atul Patel, were sent to judicial custody after their remand period expired on Saturday.