Two estate agents held for firing at a Mumbai businessman

MUMBAI: Police arrested two real estate agents and suppliers of building materials for allegedly firing a round at a businessman and his wife in the wee hours on Monday.
The incident occurred around 2.30am outside the victim Harpreet Arora’s (36) house at Arora Bhavan in Khar (west) when he was parking his car and his wife was present inside the car.
The Khar police said the couple had a narrow escape when the bullet hit their car.
The main accused Sanjay Pawar (45) is the same person who has laid anti-corruption bureau (ACB) trap on August 4, 2014 and got two Khar police officers for demanding Rs 10 lakhs and the same property documents, which has been under dispute, alleging then that the cops were harassing him over the property which he has purchased.
Arora, who identified the two men — Sanjay Pawar (45) and his Shafi Sayyed (35) — alerted the cops and registered a case against them. Acting on a tip off received, police arrested the two from Khar.
“The incident occurred when Arora and his wife returned home after watching a movie from western suburban theatre. Pawar and Sayyed who were on motorcycle opened fire at Arora but the bullet hit his car,” said Khar police senior inspector Dattatray Bhargude.
Police also seized the weapon and three live rounds from the bike that was used in the crime.
During the probe, the police found that Pawar took the extreme step when the victim did not agree to his terms and conditions of signing some of the forged documents to make the garage in his name where he does his business of selling building materials. In the complaint, Arora said, “The property where Pawar and Sayyed runs the business is given on rent my aunt in 2008. The dispute is going on since then. There have been several complaints that Pawar and Sayyed has lodged against me and my relative Vicky Arora.”
Bhargude said there has been cross-complaints filed by Pawar and Arora’s in the past with them over property dispute. “In 2014, over the same property, Pawar has laid a trap and got two officers—assistant inspector Subhash Samant and inspector Mahendra Narlekar—trapped then. It is found that Pawar has forged the documents and was trying to get Arora’s signature. When he failed in his attempt he opened fire at his car,” he said.
Box:
- The ACB saw high drama play out inside the sea-facing police quarters at Carter Road in Bandra on August 4, 2014. A team of ACB officers laid a trap at a cop’s flat following a real estate agent's complaint that two officers from Khar police station were helping three men blackmail and extort Rs 50 lakh from him.
- The 15-minute action-packed filmi sequence climaxed with assistant inspector Subhash Samant fled after jumping off the AC duct of his first-floor flat along with the first instalment of the bribe amount of Rs 10 lakh and property documents. ACB sleuths had packed one of the two bags with genuine notes of Rs 20,000; the rest was fake currency. The other bag contained original property papers of a plot on Carter Road.
- Pawar has met Narlekar and Samant at Khar police station then. The duo said if he wanted to evade a gangrape complaint, he should speak to Vicky Arora, who is known to the complainant. Arora told him to cough up Rs 50 lakh and transfer a plot at Carter Road in his name.
- Investigators have learnt that the complainant had brought the plot from Arora for Rs 25 lakh in 2008. As land prices soared, Arora demanded his property back, which the complainant kept refusing till 2012. “It appears that Arora along with his two friends, Robin Gonsolves and Mahesh Kamble, in connivance with the two police officers, fabricated the fake gangrape application and started threatening the complainant,” said a ACB officer.