The action initiated by the police against corporator Deepak Mankar and a few others involved in land-grabbing cases has generated much speculation across the city about its possible trigger. Questions are now being raised at the "sudden concerted action” against the corporator when, in fact, the police had done little to crack down on the land mafia that had thrived under its nose all these years.

Politicians who wished to remain unnamed claim that the police and the other authorities in the city were aware of the involvement of Mankar in land-grabbing activities for years, but did very little to curb his activities. This has been the pattern in the other cases also.

In May, 70-year-old Ivy Marshall had complained that as per the instructions of builder Naushat Vazir, a group of men had ransacked her house in Camp when a police sub inspector and two constables had taken her to the Cantonment police station, where she was booked on charges of trespassing and later released on bail.

An MLA from Nagpur, Victor Freitas, had taken up the matter with Home Minister Jayant Patil and demanded action against the cops. Patil directed the Pune police commissioner to investigate the matter. Police arrested a few suspects in this case, but the prime suspect, Vazir, is still at large.

As many as 12 cases have been registered against Mankar. But the police cracked the whip only after the 64-year-old Yeshwant Natu went public with his complaint last month. The Natu family alleged that Mankar and his men had forced them to sell their property in Shukrawar Peth to builder Sudheer Karnataki for Rs 1.25 crore in March 2008. Natu also alleged that he had approached the police many times, but received no response.

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