2 netas using RTI information to extort money from builders, booked

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena corporator Dhananjay Gawde, 44, from Nalasopara and NCP’s Vasai-Virar unit chief Govind Gunjalkar, 47, were booked on Saturday for allegedly extorting money from builders by blackmailing them with information obtained using RTI in Virar.
While Gawde allegedly extorted Rs 83 lakh from various builders, Gunjalkar demanded Rs 5 lakh from a former Sena corporator. Officials suspect that Gunjalkar was acting on the behest of Gawde. Gunjalkar has been arrested and Gawde is on the run. The NCP man was released on bail late in the evening.

Gawde’s two aides, Ramesh More and Uday Jadhav, too, have been arrested. They have been sent to police custody.

In recent months, there have been several cases in Vasai-Virar of political parties, activists and even journalists being accused of using RTI Act to blackmail builders.

One FIR has been filed at Virar police station against Gawde and two others at Tuling (Nalasopara east) police stations. Gunjalkar has been booked by the Nalasopara police station.

Gawde, is known to have a full-fledged team that files a dozen RTIs every day, mostly seeking information regarding builders and their projects. In one case, Gawde met a Kandivli builder at a hotel in Nalasopara (E) and sought Rs 50 lakh to withdraw a public interest litigation that was filed in the Bombay high court against the latter’s alleged illegal construction. He had allegedly obtained information regarding the construction using the RTI Act. Gawde settled on Rs 32 lakh cash, 8 tonnes of steel and 600 bags of cement worth Rs 10 lakh. The steel and cement was delivered at Gawde’s farmhouse in Shirsad Phata, Virar (E). The complainant has said that Gawde, who used to be Sena’s former Thane district deputy chief, was also threatened with a revolver.

In another case, Gawde demanded money from a Virar developer to not complain against the latter’s illegal construction activities between December 2015 and January 2016. He settled for Rs 30 lakh and a flat in the name of his sister Jayshree Gawde in Tuling, the police said. In the third case against him, Gawde and his accomplice Ramesh More extorted Rs 11 lakh from a Virar developer between October 2016 and March 2018.

Interestingly, Gawde was caught with Rs 1.1 crore defunct and new notes during demonetization in December 2016. The cash was declared benami by the Thane income tax after Gawde could not explain the source of the income.

A police source said that more cases are expected to be filed against Gawde, Gawde, who is the leader of the House in the Vasa-Virar Municipal Corporation.

Gunjalkar, meanwhile, was recently seen sharing dias senior NCP leaders and a former minister at a function in Dahanu. He had tried to extort money from former Sena corporator Shirish Chavan, who is a builder and the party’s Palghar district chief. However, Chavan refused to pay.

SENA MAN GOT CIVIC OFFICIALS ARRESTED

Absconding corporator Dhananjay Gawde, who is accused of misusing RTI Act to extort money, also used the information to get civic officials arrested last year. In January 2017, two assistant municipal commissioners of Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation (VVMC) were arrested for forgery and cheating based on Gawde’s complaint. Gawde’s complaint had also led to the arrest of deputy director (town planning) Y S Reddy, who had reportedly tried to offer him a bribe in May 2016. Reddy wanted Gawde to go slow on an RTI against him.