Navi Mumbai: Real estate developers talk of living in the shadow of fear

Three years after tragedy first struck outside the building of S K Brothers Builders amp Developers at Sector 28 in Vashi a nervous energy still prevails within its walls When we enter the reception area an armed cop relaxing on a sofa is suddenly alarmed He sizes us up but is assured by the receptionist We are then led into the spacious chamber of 28yearold Sandeep Kumar Lahoria aka Sunny No cameras please he insists I am wary of getting photographed he says But the fear Sandeep reveals is in glaring contradiction to the battle he has been fighting since February 2013 when his developer father Sunil Kumar Lahoria 51 was killed by a spray of bulletsIn November 2014 the Thane Crime Branch filed a chargesheet claiming that gangster Abu Salems righthand man Mehendi Hassan had reportedly taken a contract to kill Sandeep Kumar Lahoria Sandeeps father Sunil had been gunned down outside his Vashi office in February 2013 PicsSneha KharabeOver an hours drive away from here in Ulhasnagar Thane district contractor Sumit Sunil Chakraborthys 23yearold son Aakash is still reeling from the aftershocks of the June 11 firing at his fathers office He narrowly missed being the target of notorious goon Suresh Pujaris shooters by five minutes While nobody was injured Sumit is yet to come to terms with Pujaris sudden decision to act on the threat calls which he has been receiving for the last three years He is a local goonda Sumit says There was never any reason to take him seriously That the empty threats translated into something more sinister called for a reality check A couple of days after the incident he got his son to register for an arms licence and got police security for his officeOn July 11 two motorcycleborne shooters allegedly associated with underworld gangster Suresh Pujari opened fire at right builder Sumit Chakraborthys office in Ulhasnagar Chakraborthys son Aakash left who had been receiving extortion calls seeking R2 crore had left the premises just five minutes beforeIn the realty business a booming industry outside of Mumbai somebody is a new target every day We sat down for a chat with the ones who have reasons to be afraid of their own shadowsLahorias office at Sector 28 in VashiQ What kind of struggles do you face in your businessSandeep As a developer my father the late Sunil Lahoria and I have been constantly harassed and bullied by government and police officials Because we deal with buying and selling of land we are often targeted by a section of builders who involve villagers or locals who occupy land purchased by us and demand that we give an NOC at a certain price If we dont they threaten us with an FIR The cops go ahead and file the FIR because the builders offer them a cut too Its a tight nexus here and theres no room for honestySumit Ulhasnagars biggest and only problem is Suresh Pujari As a contractor I have never faced any harassment from either government officials or the cops To be honest even if I have rivals we would never stoop to the lengths of involving the underworld or goons For the last three to four years Pujari has been making extortion calls to many businessmen in the area without even bothering to check if they have the capacity to pay up But we never believed him until he shot dead a local cablewala in October last yearChakraborthys office in Ulhasnagar Last year one of Pujaris shooters killed cable operator Sachanand Karia when he refused to pay extortion money of Rs 5 croreQ When did the extortion calls first begin Sandeep My father got the first call five years ago This has to do with his need to do business honestly He never indulged in any malpractice and did not believe in taking or giving bribes In 2011 he filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court after the police refused to file an FIR against builder Anurag Garg who had violated FSI rules while constructing towers on Palm Beach Road When the HC directed the police to file an FIR against Garg top police officials advised him against it My father refused and before he knew it he had started receiving calls from Gargs accomplice Suresh Bijlani who has strong connections with the underworld Again my father did not give in to threats It cost him his lifeSumit The call came some three years ago At the time I did not even know Pujari He simply asked me to pay up R2 crore I did not have that kind of money so I laughed it off But after that day for the next eight days he kept harassing me with 20 to 30 calls every day I then went and filed a complaint with the Thane police While I was assured that action would be taken nothing changed The calls kept coming and with time they had become sporadic However after the murder of Sachu cablewala he also started harassing my son Aakash with phone callsQ How cooperative were the authoritiesSandeep My father wouldnt have died had the police officials been half as cooperative In fact they were handinglove with the builders and one of the seniormost officers was also aware of the plans to kill him On the day of the murder former Navi Mumbai CP Ashok Kumar was in constant touch with Bijlani and Garg Still nothing was done about it I cannot stand the Navi Mumbai police They are all dogs This is why I sought for the inquiry to be handed over to the Mumbai crime branchSumit I have visited the CP joint CP and DCP of Thane on several occasions What I have been given is only assurance and nothing else When Pujari started harassing my son I applied for police protection for him In return they slap a Rs 80000 bill every month for their services when they shouldnt be charging anything and instead should try and focus their energies on tracking the goon Are they waiting for him to become a big ganglord before they cut him to sizeQ How is it that people in the real estate are mostly targets of the underworld Isnt it because of the kind of money especially black money thats pumped into the industrySandeep Let me lay it to you straighthellipit is only honest people who are usually targeted by the underworld If my father had agreed to pay the money that had been demanded he would have been sitting in this office today My father had sensed something fishy in the trade here and hence started new businesses in Dubai and Australia by 2002 In fact I was handling all our business abroad but after my fathers death I decided that I would not move from here until I get the guilty behind bars The good thing is that Garg and Bijlani are now in jail but I have had to spend crores of rupees to ensure that they remain thereSumit No it is not true Pujari has threatened more than 50 people in Ulhasnagar and they include politicians smalltime shopkeepers and businessmen like me Nobody has been spared of his idiocyQ Whats it like to live under constant fearSandeep I carry a licensed gun with me everywhere I go I have been given police security but ask the official how to handle the gun and he will have no clue Because of this I have become my own watchdog Every now and then I get a threat call saying that if I dont stop pursuing the case I will meet my fathers fate I am not married and have no family If I had one I would never keep them here My mother doesnt know what kind of problems I face and I dont discuss it with her because she would ask me to put an end to this But I am not a quitter The one thing I learned from my father is to be braveSumit I dont fear Pujari and thats one reason I havent got any personal security for myself Yes I have put in additional safety measures in place like having CCTV cameras at home and work but that is for my family If I cow down to his demands and agree to pay up a few lakh rupees it will only encourage him to threaten other people I dont want to set a wrong trend or bad example Most importantly I dont want to give unnecessary mileage to the goon