29 December,2010 06:21 AM IST | | Akela
Hawker withdraws Rs 35,000 from RPF official's account; threatens him with a gun when cop confronts him
In an ironic role reversal, a hoodlum hawker aimed a gun at a police officer in a railway police station, blackmailed him into a vow of silence against a theft he had committed, and threatened to put him behind bars.
Pradip Agrawal, alias Saunthaliya, a hawker, withdrew Rs 35,000 from the bank account of Railway Protection Force (RPF) official, Arvind Kumar Yadav, using his ATM card, and told him that if he opened his mouth about the theft, he would expose his past record and send incriminating documents against him to the CBI.
Saunthaliya, a hawker, sitting on a cop's chair at the RPF police station at CST. Arvind Kumar Yadav, who was threatened by Saunthaliya
Yadav, currently posted in Assam, was earlier in the city. To avoid a CBI probe, Yadav had kept his belongings at Saunthaliya's place, including his debit card.
But after he realised that Saunthaliya misused his ATM card to steal cash from his bank account, he came to Mumbai.
But Saunthaliya threatened him with a gun and said he would inform the CBI about the old case pending against him.
Now Yadav has registered a complaint with the railway authorities in Mumbai and also at Navghar police station in Mulund.
Hafta vasuli
According to the complaint (a copy of which is available with MiD DAY), Yadav was posted at Kurla Terminus.
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In August 1998, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided the terminus to find that it was being used for illegal activities. Following that, 14 RPF officials were transferred out of Maharashtra in October 2010.
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Yadav, being one of them, was transferred to Assam.
To avoid further action by the CBI, Yadav kept his valuable documents concerning investment papers, I-T returns, properties, bank passbook, checkbook, and debit cards at a colleague's place, another RPF constable, Arati Yadav, who in turn, handed them over to Saunthaliya.
According to police, Saunthaliya, a resident of Swadhin building in Churchgate, runs illegal stalls on railway premises and collects and pays a huge hafta to railway officials.
He is on close terms with railway officials, especially the RPF, to an extent that many officials hand over their black money, collected from various sources, to Saunthaliya, who keeps it for them.
He would also lend money on an exorbitant interest rate to railway employees. If they failed to pay him back, he would call them to the CST RPF office, and, while sitting on senior RPF officers' chair, threaten them with his licenced revolver (see pic). He had forged close ties with Yadav during this period.
On November 13, Yadav received four text messages on his mobile phone informing him that Rs 35,000 has been withdrawn from his account at Dhanlaxmi Bank from a Mulund branch. When Yadav inquired, he found the hawker was behind the withdrawal.
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He came to Mumbai to confront him. In the RPF office at CST, Saunthaliya, sitting in the senior inspector's chair in his characteristic style, admitted having withdrawn the money after somehow acquiring his ATM password.
But he threatened Yadav, saying that if he asked for the money or snitched on him, he would submit all of Yadav's documents in his possession to the CBI. He aimed a revolver at Yadav and asked him to forget the matter or take a bullet.
"I have received the complaints against Saunthaliya for threatening Yadav. We are investigating the case," said Dileep Mane, senior inspector, Government Railway Police, CST.
The Other Side
While Yadav refused to comment, saying that he is not authorised to talk to the media, Saunthaliya remained unavailable.
14
Number of RPF officials were transferred out of Maharashtra after the CBI raid in October 2010
