Repairer alleges police connived with ship owner

A ship repairer has approached the Bombay High Court claiming that a barge company owner got him arrested in a fake case and has accused senior police officers of connivance Thirty five yearold Ship repairer Ramesh Shukla said barge company owner Vali Mohammed Khakhra gave him the job of repairing five barges but paid him only a part of the total amount Shukla claimed he is yet to receive Rs 72 lakh excluding interest for the job After he repaired four barges and was working on the fifth a paymentrelated dispute emerged Khakhra alleged that Shukla stole the fifth barge and approached the police Shukla on the other hand claimed that Khakhra registered a false case because he didn39t want to pay him and that police officers are involved too The barge in question The case Shukla proprietor of SRC Marine Engineers a shiprepairing firm at Darukhana wrote to Addl CP South region on February 2 alleging that in March 2009 Khakhra proprietor of Ms Vali Marine Transport approached him for the repairs of five barges mdash Hamraj1 2 and 3 Aqua and Suraj the copy of the letter is with Sunday Mid day Shukla received a part payment of Rs 42 lakh of the total Rs 114 crore for the repair of four barges until the dispute arose According to Shukla Khakhra had promised to pay the rest after the barge named Suraj was repaired and handed over but started delaying the payment Khakhrarsquos threat Shukla claims that on the night of November 8 2011 the barge Suraj went missing The morning after he found it a few metres from the repair spot and tugged at it to bring it back Shukla then claims that Khakhra threatened him for taking the barge away After the argument Shukla and Khakhra approached Sewri police station to register a cross complaint but police asked them to resolve the matter amicably However Shukla later claimed that between December 6 2011 and January 1 2012 both were summoned by the Senior PI Sewri police station ACP and DCP Port Zone who heard them out and instructed that statements be recorded Complainant Ramesh Shukla Shukla arrested On January 12 2012 Shukla was summoned to the police station ldquoI was shocked to know that I was being arrested for stealing the barge Suraj on the basis of a false complaint lodged by Khakhra two months prior to my arrest I was produced before the Magistrate Court Dadar on January 13 2012 and was released on a cash bond of Rs 20000rdquo Shukla added ldquoKhakhra himself issued a work completion certificate WCC foru00a0Rs 1 crore on October 14 2011 The police did not take cognisance of my written complaint against Khakhra for nonpayment of dues hence I approached the Bombay High court to quash the FIRrdquou00a0 Policersquos suspicious role After Shukla submitted his letter in court Addl CP Krishna Prakash appointed PI Anil Sardal of Sewree police station to conduct a probe and submit his report Sardal in his report on April 16 a copy of which is with Sunday Mid Day raised concerns over the role of the DCP who had called both Khakhra and Shukla to his office and directed that a criminal case be registered against Shukla when the matter was actually a civil one He also suspected that officers might have been bribed In the report he concluded that the roles of DCP Tanaji Ghadge Senior PI Bharat Gaykwad and investigating officer API KV Aware were suspicious and as a PI rank officer Gaykwad couldnrsquot conduct the probe further and asked for the case to be given to a senior official The case was transferred to DCP Zone 2 Nissar Tamboli and a copy of Sardalrsquos report was submitted to the Bombay High Court The case was heard on October 17 before the division bench of Justices A Oka and S Jadhav The additional public prosecutor was asked to check the genuineness of the documents after which the action taken by Addl CP on the basis of the report would be checked The matter was adjourned till November 2 According to the petitionerrsquos lawyer AK Phatak ldquoOn November 2 the court directed Shukla to approach a lower court and file a discharge application We will move a criminal writ petition against police officers seperately in the HC for the alleged role in the fake caserdquo lsquoI stuck to the agreementrsquo Khakhra said ldquoI never gave Shukla all five barges at a time to repair and paid him as agreed upon but Shukla cheated me and took away the barge Suraj We had agreed on certain terms and conditions and Shukla should have charged me accordingly His claims are baselessrdquo When asked about the WCC issued by him to Shukla Khakhra acknowledged that he did give him a certificate but claimed he was told that it was needed for a tender submission and was given to him in good faith Official speak Meanwhile addl CP Prakash said ldquoI am still inquiring into the case Even the court has directed for an inquiry into the matterrdquo DCP Ghadge calls ldquoShuklarsquos claims ldquobaselessrdquo He is accused in a case of theft He has been chargesheeted and trial shall commence soonrdquo On the confidential report he said ldquoThe report has no value as proper administrative procedure was not followed by Sardalrdquo DCP Zone 2 Tamboli confirmed that he was inquiring into the matter and that he would not be able to make any statement at the moment ACP Wadala division DD Waghmare said ldquoThe report is addressed to Addl CP and an inquiry is in process I cannot make any commentrdquo PI Sardal too said ldquoThe report has been submitted I cannot speak any furtherrdquo Senior PI Gaykwad was unavailable for commentu00a0