Dawood's aide threatening us with underworld connections: Malad high-rise residents

Malads tallest housing society has accused its chairman Sonu Jalan a top bookie of misappropriation of funds alleging that he is an associate of don Dawood Ibrahim Its members claimed that when confronted Jalan would threaten them with his alleged underworld linksJalan was appointed chairman of the 58storey Auris Serenity Tower1 provisional committee in Malad West in 2021 The panel was formed on July 21 that year while the building itself came up in 2019All society members had paid 18 monthsrsquo maintenance charges in advance to the builder before taking possession of their flats as per the latterrsquos terms However they were repaid only 13 monthsrsquo amountAlso read Mumbai Dawood Ibrahims brother Kaskar hospitalised after chest pain complaintAuris Serenity in Malad West PicAnurag AhireResidents allege that Jalan had spent the advance maintenance amount on a swanky society office and organising events without their consent or the requisite permissions The committee had also allegedly barred those who refused to pay further maintenance charges from using the liftA group of members have approached the Malad police and the Slum Redevelopment Authority SRA and the registrar of the latter is also investigating this matterThe SRA registrar has instructed Deputy Registrar Chetan Chaudhary to take action after carrying out a government audit of the societyrsquos accounts for 202122 The SRA also found that society has not done its audit of 20212022Jalan and his family own three 4BHK flats in the buildingA resident alleged ldquoThe provisional committee used up all the funds for the illegal construction of the society office installing CCTV cameras and replacing BMC pipelines without any approval or vote or sharing any quotations in any meetingsrdquoAnother member said ldquoSonu Jalan has been threatening many members with his criminal background and government contacts He forced us to use the service lift after we refused to pay for the extra maintenance charges added in the bill for illegal construction of office We are not ready to pay extra maintanence charges We had already coughed up the money just after purchasing our flats Jalan and the committee illegally used R46 lakh from society funds to construct the office They didnrsquot even take permission from the BMC and the SRA for itrdquoYet another senior active member claimed the committee had replaced a BMC pipeline for enlargement purposes and imposed a charge of R20 lakh on the members without sharing any quotations or seeking approval from themThe member said ldquoThe society has not shared any financial statement with any official or any resident despite sending many applications The society has not done the audit for 20212022 Our builder had also paid the society a sum of Rs 50 lakh which is mentioned in the minutes of the society but it has not been credited to the members to whom these funds belongrdquoJalan dismissed the allegations telling midday ldquoThere is a group of people who are targeting us as they do not want to pay maintenance Earlier there were 30 people and of them 17 had submitted apology letters to the society stating that they had been misguided We constructed the office because the builder had given us a 100squarefoot office space which is not sufficient for 330 flat members and we have almost 60plus security and other staff We also sought BMCrsquos permission for this office 300 out of 330 society members approved it This group also sent us many legal notices and we replied to all of them These are fake complaintsrdquoHe added ldquoWe are taking decisions with the majorityrsquos approval All society members paid 18 monthsrsquo advance maintenance charges but the funds were finished early We canrsquot stop running the society Its monthly expenditure is R50 lakh and if we do not get maintenance how we will pay light bills security and cleaning charges Till the issue is solved with the builder society members have to pay maintenance charges and after it is solves we will adjust the society accounts with regards to future maintenancerdquoRejecting the claim that he had threatened people Jalan said ldquoIf they have any proof they can go to the police and register a complaint against me Recently 250 society members also signed in favour of the committee The CCTV cameras and BMC pipeline changes were approved in annual general meetings We already submitted everything to the registrar and SRA Society money was used in a transparent mannerrdquoldquoSome society members had not paid maintenance charges but wanted to rent out their flat We submitted a letter to the Malad police station informing them of this Due to this we stopped them from using the lift The builder also gave a cheque with the name of the society and we credited it to societyrsquos account as society funds It will come on paper in the government auditrdquo Jalan added SRA CEO Satish Lokhande said ldquoI am not aware of this society but I will instruct the officer concerned to probe the matterrdquoPolice inspector Jayshree Gajbiye of Maland police station said ldquoWe received the complaint two days back Jalan told us that the members he stopped from taking the lift hadnrsquot paid their dues Itrsquos a society matter and we suggested they solve it as soon as possible and also warned Jalan to allow society members to use the liftsrdquo330No of members who live in Auris SerenityWho is Sonu JalanSonu Jalan was nabbed in 2018 for allegedly masterminding an IPL betting racket and has a large betting network across India Pakistan and Dubai Jalan was born and brought up in Malad and dropped out of school in SSCJalan cultivated several officers in the Mumbai police and would often secretly record his meetings or conversations with them to blackmail them He is also under the scanner of not only the Mumbai and Thane Police but also in investigations carried out by the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI and ED There are several cases registered against Jalan for extortionPolice said Jalan has close links with the underworld and allegedly uses these connections to intimidate punters who owe him money A few years back Jalan also allegedly met some key members of the gang who handle betting operations for Dawood in Dubai Jalan is also suspected to be involved in matchfixing Jalan also admitted once to fixing a match and giving millions of dollars to Sri Lankan playersHe was recently booked by the Thane police in a R50lakh extortion case