Apart from organised mafia and terrorism, Mumbai police is tackling a new genre of crimes — those associated with slum redevelopment projects.
Apart from organised mafia and terrorism, Mumbai police is tackling a new genre of crimes — those associated with slum redevelopment projects.
With hundreds of crores at stake, over several slum redevelopment projects in the city, criminal activity in this area is on the rise.
There have been several instances where the underworld has shown interest in SRA projects. Also, slumlords are now playing a bigger role in securing consent for builders, often by resorting to illegal means.
But the police is keeping track of these developments. Last year, police commissioner DN Jadhav declared that SRA-related crimes would be one of his key focus areas, along with motor vehicle thefts.
And the mechanism seems to be in place. “We collect information regularly and are closely monitoring SRA-related projects in the city,” joint commissioner of police (crime), Rakesh Maria told DNA. “We have already started collecting information to find out if there is any underworld involvement in SRA projects.”
The underworld is, slowly but surely, making its presence felt. Gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s sister Haseena Parkar was booked for extortion, forgery and cheating in a case filed by a builder in connection with a slum redevelopment project.
In another case, RR Chaturvedi of Shreepati Builders was initially arrested for allegedly ordering the killing of a rival builder who had secured redevelopment rights in a Rs 500-crore slum redevelopment project in Kalachowkie area of Central Mumbai.
However, it later transpired that Chaturvedi might have been framed. The matter is being investigated by the state CID.
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