Mumbai: Omie Kalani, son of former TADA detenu and former Ulhasnagar MLA Pappu Kalani, was on Thursday arrested along with two others in a case of alleged threat and assault on a person, the CID informed Bombay High Court on Thursday.
A bench of Justice V M Kanade and Justice Pramod Kode was hearing a petition filed by Ulhasnagar resident Sunil Sukhramani who alleged that he was threatened and assaulted by Kalani and his friends as they wanted his aunt to withdraw her candidature in municipal corporation elections last year.
CID, which was pulled up by the Court two days back for not taking any action in this case, informed that three persons, including Kalani, were arrested today and that the investigations would continue.
They would be produced in a local Court today for remand, assistant public prosecutor S R Shinde said.
"This is what we were expecting..Unless pressure is put by the Court, you (police) do not do anything. Irrespective of who the person is, the police should follow the rule of law and take action, Justice V M Kanade observed.
"We will find out from police within two weeks what investigations they had done in this matter," the judges said while adjourning the matter to September 6.
On August 21, while granting police protection to the petitioner, the Court had pulled up CID saying "this is most shocking state of affairs...Ordinary citizens cannot survive in this state. It is not only the local police but the state CID which is acting in this manner".
The bench also warned CID that strictures would be passed if they found that they have not taken any action.
According to the petition, Sukhramani`s aunt had contested the civic polls against Papu Kalani’s wife Jyoti on February 16, 2012. It also said that petitioner`s aunt, Neetu, is the wife of Mahesh who is a corporator belonging to the BJP due to which there was hostility between the two families.
The petitioner said he was beaten up while police remained as silent spectators. The complainant in this case, Prakash Kalwani, was assaulted when he tried to intervene. An FIR was lodged in November 2011 under various sections of IPC and Arms Act against Kalani and others.
Justice Kanade had earlier observed that police had
still not arrested Kalani against whom two FIRs were lodged. Also, his anticipatory bail plea had been rejected by a lower Court and High Court.
The Judge had warned that the Court may consider ordering the Home Ministry to conduct an inquiry into the role of police and may even think of transferring the probe to CBI.
Prior to elections, on November 12, 2011, the petitioner alleged that he was assaulted by Omi Kalani and his associates. This was witnessed by Prakash Kalwani, who tried to intervene.
However, both were assaulted by Kalani and his men and threatened at the point of gun to stop their relatives from contesting elections in wards against the Kalani family.
PTI
