Rajkot: Names of five new associates of dreaded extortionist and land mafia, Jayesh Ranpariya (Patel), who were booked with Patel and eight others, were revealed by police on Saturday.
The five associates include a lawyer Vasant Mansata, two history-sheeters Yashpalsinh Jadeja and his brother Jaspalsinh Jadeja; builder Mukesh Abangi’s brother Ramesh and Sunil Changani.
Elaborating their role, cops said that Patel took the help of Mansata for all legal advice. Mansata was also hired to represent Patel in all civil and criminal cases as well as publish notices related to land dealings in newspapers.
The Jadeja brothers were hired to take forcible possession of land or to pressurize the owners of properties Patel was interested in. The duo has already served sentence for similar crimes. Like his brother Mukesh, Ramesh used to help Patel investing money received through extortion or other means. Changani helped in extorting money or take illegal possession of properties of persons involved in betting businesses.
Meanwhile, the eight others who were arrested on Friday were remanded to police custody. Sitting BJP councillor of Jamnagar Municipal Corporation Atul Bhanderi, prominent builder Nilesh Toliya, owner of a local newspaper Pravin Chovatiya, former head constable of local crime branch (LCB) Vashram Miyatra and realtor Anil Parmar were remanded to police custody till October 29. Three others – Mukesh, Jigar alias Jimmy Aalatiya and Praful Popat were remanded till October 26.
Cops said that the eight accused will be interrogated to know which traders and businessmen they had targeted and how much money had they extorted. They will also be questioned about where the extorted money was invested and through which sources. During the custody period the disproportionate assets that have been bought through their crime syndicate will be seized, cops said.
Jamnagar police had booked Patel and his close associates on Friday under the stringent Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organized Crime Act (GujCTOC). Although this is the fifth offence lodged under GujCTOC in Gujarat, it is the first case registered under section 4 of the act which pertains to possession of accountable property belonging to an organized crime syndicate.