Vadodara, June 12: The Vadodara police failed to file a formal complaint against cricketers Irfan and Yusuf Pathan in a property related case despite instructions by state DGP S S Khandwawala.
The case is already sub judice matter as the complainant, a woman, has approached the Vadodara Civil Court. According to sources, complainant Kalpana Rochani, a resident of Gotri area, had entered into a six-year lease agreement with Pathans for their property at Tanishq Complex located on J P Road in 2006. Rochani started a beauty saloon in the shop owned by Pathans.
However, for some reasons Pathans asked Rochani to vacate the property in 2009 to which she disagreed as the lease agreement was for six years. A civil suit was filed in the issue and in January 2010 the court ordered that the owner of the property cannot evict the tenant before the end of the lease agreement.
According to Rochani, on May 7, she closed her saloon but when she came the next day she found that some people had illegally occupied the shop by breaking open the lock and had thrown all the saloon property on the road.
The woman approached the JP Road police station. The police though picked up eight persons who were present in the saloon but instead of lodging any complaint, took an application and told Rochani that they will take her formal complaint only after investigating into the matter. As police did not take her complaint even after one week, Rochani approached the Chief Minister’s Office and apprised the officials about the harassment.
Later, instructions were issued police to lodge the woman’s complaint.
On May 26, Assistant Commissioner of Police M J Pancholi took her statement but still her complaint was not registered. Rochani was also asked to sign the inquest to which she objected through her lawyer Jagdish Ramani. Ramani told police that it is not possible for her to sign the inquest as an FIR in the incident was not registered.
“I have never come across any such case wherein the DGP is compelled to write a letter to the police commissioner to file an FIR. Apparently the police commissioner is overwhelmed with the celebrity status of Pathan brothers and forgot to follow the law and order rules,” said Ramani.
He further said, “ Though the letter is lying with him for last almost three days he has not yet asked his staff to lodge the formal complain. On May 26 my client’s statement was taken and on May 31 the things mentioned in the statement were kept back at the saloon. These things were actually taken away by Pathan’s men. The move was to avoid the IPC sections pertaining to loot case.”
-Agencies