We’re still getting threat calls: Trindade

In his petition, among other things Trindade had stated that Loke had called Trindade’s wife Trudy on her mobile phone on October 21 and told her to ask her husband to meet Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray to settle a property dispute.

“Even after the court orders, the police have not started any investigation. Though I have received two calls from unknown persons after moving the court, the police have not traced the caller. They have not provided me with any protection, nor do I know which police station is handling this case,” Trindade told Express Newsline.

Trindade said he was not surprised by police inaction in this case. “Ever since I filed a criminal complaint against anonymous callers in July 1996, there has been no response from the police at all. Whenever the complaint came up for hearing in the Ninth Court, Bandra, the police officials put forward numerous excuses for the lack of investigation,” he said.

The earlier anonymous calls had also urged Trindade to meet Thackeray regarding the property dispute over the Marina Resorts in Goa. An arbitrator had been appointed by the court to resolve the tangle. Moreover, the matter was to come up for hearing before the Goa division bench.

“I had met Thackeray at that time. He had categorically denied any links with the caller. I then met then Police Commissioner R D Tyagi, who provided me with police protection. It is a different matter that the police staff was helpless due to orders from the higher-ups, especially those in the Extortion Cell. On one occasion a constable was compelled to change his statement regarding an attempted attack on me and make it appear as if it did not take place,” Trindade added.

Trindade recalls a “worse experience” with the current Police Commissioner R N Mendonca. “I met him after a police officer of the RAK Marg Police station asked my bank manager to disclose details of my bank accounts. I was quite shaken by this second round of threats. But Mendonca merely referred me to the Extortion Cell without even inquiring into the inaction of the RAK Marg police.” Trindade said the police must stop appealing to the public to report extortion rackets. “They never take such complaints seriously anyway.”

Frustrated by the lack of response and threatened again by the caller on October 21, Trindade sent a telegram to the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. “I am now relying totally on the courts. And that is why I have not gone to the police station after the initial panic. I have faith in nothing else.”

Loke had denied that he had ever threatened the Trinidade couple. He said he had taken up the case of one Mrs D’Souza on recommendation from Thane Sena leader Anand Dighe who had approached him at the Sena Bhavan. Loke is a recent entrant to the Shiv Sena from the Congress and was declared a `deputy leader’ by Sena supremo Bal Thackeray in October. He was also one of the persons named as allegedly being involved in the Ramesh Kini case.

According to Loke, D’Souza was related to the Trindade couple and had a housekeeping contract with them for a Hotel Paradise that they purportedly run in Goa. They owed her more than Rs four lakhs and were defaulting on the payment, she told Loke.

Commissioner Mendonca refused to comment on Trindade’s complaints. “I will be filing an affidavit-in-reply and obviously will not comment before that. I do not know about the fresh telephone threats issued to Trindade couple.”