Gorhe addressed the media along with Purnima Prabhu who had filed a complaint at the Shivajinagar police station against close aides of Shivaji Mankar for assaulting her brother and ransacking their house at Mukundananda, FC Road, Shivajinagar on December 29 last year. A family member, Rajiv Prabhu, had suffered serious injuries in the attack.

Purnima alleged that Shivaji and Deepak Mankar masterminded the attack on their house where they have been staying as tenants for 50 years now. “Shivaji Mankar purchased this property from the actual owner and wanted to vacate the tenants. On December 29, around 50 men entered our house and ransacked it,” she said.

Purnima said her brother Rajeev was beaten up severely by the associates of Shivaji Mankar. The police had arrested a couple of goons in this case on December 30 last year.

Gorhe said that though the police took stern action against the assailants, they had registered a criminal case against the injured Rajiv Prabhu and three other family members, which the Bombay High Court later ruled as a false case. “The law and order situation in the city is worse. It seems the police are hand-in-glove with the land grabbers in the city,” Gorhe said, demanding that the case be re-opened.

When contacted, Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh said, “We will re-investigate the case and Deepak Mankar will be booked if he is also involved. I had asked additional commissioner Prabhat Kumar and the then deputy commissioner Raghunath Khaire to look into the case.”

Prabhat Kumar told Newsline that the case was properly investigated. “We had arrested the goons along with Shivaji Mankar. The Prabhu family did not mention anything about Deepak Mankar at that time.”

Documents available with Prabhus, however, show that a criminal case was lodged at Shivajinagar police station against Rajiv Prabhu and his three sisters for allegedly assaulting Nilesh Pachange with a sharp instrument. The high court had termed the complaint against the Prabhus as false and fabricated.

The court observed that the medical records of Rajiv showed that he was admitted to the hospital when the alleged assault had taken place as per the police complaint. It also noted that PSI Sandeep Ghorpade, the investigating officer, had filed an affidavit in reply to the anticipatory bail application of the Prabhus. “In this affidavit, no reply has been given to the averments and allegations made by the applicants (Prabhus). The sub inspector has also not submitted the injury certificate of complainant Nilesh Pachange,” the court said in its ruling on April 3.

Warrant against corporator, 3 accomplices

The magisterial court here on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant against corporator Deepak Mankar and three others, including builder Sudheer Karnataki, former corporator Datta Sagare and Sadhana Vartak, who allegedly forced a senior citizen, Yeshwant Natu, and his family members to sell their property in Shukrawar Peth in March 2008.

Judicial Magistrate (first class) KPR Singh Rathore issued the warrant.

“If Mankar is not arrested in five days, he will be declared a proclaimed offender,” said joint commissioner of police Rajendra Sonawane. “Our teams are searching extensively for Mankar and other suspects in the land grab case. We cannot reveal the operational details,” said Deputy Commissioner (crime) Anil Kumbhare.