Case lodged under SC/ST Act against BJP MLA Ganpat Gaikwad and seven others

The complainant asked the developer why he was erecting tin sheets around the property when the matter was still pending at Mantralaya. The complainant alleged that Ganpat Gaikwad rushed towards them to hit them, and flung casteist abuses as did the people with him

ULHASNAGAR: The Hill Line police in Ulhasnagar on Saturday registered a case under the relevant sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and the relevant IPC sections for criminal intimidation, rioting, unlawful assembly and intentional insult to provoke breach of peace against MLA Ganpat Gaikwad, Jitendra Parikh, Vitthal Chikankar, Shivaji Phulero, Saurabh Singh, Chhotu Khan, Chandrakant, and Mangesh Warghet.

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The case was filed by Madhumati Jadhav, who lives with her husband, two sons and a daughter at Dwarli village in Ambernath, Ulhasnagar. As per the FIR, the complainant said that her father-in-law Namdev Jadhav owned a land parcel in Dwarli village, which was contracted to Fairdeal Developers Pvt Ltd in 1996. Jadhav passed away in 2010 and the land is with his family.

In 2012, the complainant’s husband, Eknath Jadhav, and other family members gave the land to another developer via a development agreement of ₹3 crore, in which ₹75 lakh was paid to them. The developer promised to pay the rest of the money within six months but failed to do so, the complaint said.

According to the FIR, one of the partners of Fairdeal Developers, Pramod Ranka, lodged a case against the Jadhav family and others on charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy at Hill Line police station in 2012. They all were released on bail. Thereafter, Ranka, through Fairdeal Developers, allegedly tampered with the 7/12 extract, the official proof of the Jadhav family’s ownership of the land.

Police sources said that Eknath Jadhav filed a civil case in the sub-divisional office in Ulhasnagar in 2013, which ruled in Jadhav’s favour. However, Ranka filed an appeal before the additional collector’s office, which ruled in Ranka’s favour on December 29, 2023. Jadhav then appealed against the order before the state revenue department in Mantralaya.

Meanwhile, Ranka constructed one room on the land parcel and covered the boundary with tin sheets. The complainant said in her statement that she, along with family members, had gone to the plot when MLA Ganpat Gaikwad and others were present at the spot. She asked the developer why he was erecting tin sheets around the property when the matter was still pending at Mantralaya. The complainant alleged that Ganpat Gaikwad rushed towards them to hit them, and flung casteist abuses as did the people with him.

The complainant, along with family members, approached the police station at around 9 pm on Friday to lodge a case against Gaikwad and others under the SC/ST Atrocities Act. Jitendra Parikh, a partner of Fairdeal Developers was already present at the police station and later Ganpat Gaikwad too arrived, leading to the shocking firing incident in the cabin of the senior police inspector.

According to Sudhakar Pathare, DCP, Ulhasnagar, “ACP-rank officers are investigating the matter and will collect evidence pertaining to the allegations of casteist abuse levelled against the accused. If there are CCTVs at the spot where the incident took place, our officers will check the footage. So far, no one has been arrested.”

Pathare added that the central police station in Ulhasnagar had also booked suspected BJP supporters who gathered outside the court where Ganpat Gaikwad was produced and were captured in a video which went viral on social media. “We are going through the video and identifying them, and we will issue notices, asking them to appear at the police station,” he said. “A case has been lodged under various sections of the Maharashtra Police Act.”