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Builders make getaway as police collect proof
JANYALA SREENIVAS
Here is a very curious fact. The Gujarat Home Minister, Haren Pandya,
doesn't know why the police did not arrest any builder for 18 days
after the earthquake. "I think there were no complaints first,
then police took action on its own. But we have taken some steps
to ensure the builders don't run away,'' he told The Indian Express.
Tell
this to Brajesh Vilasbhai Hande, a resident of Paldi, and he fumes.
"The police simply refused to take my complaint against Akshay
apartment builder Jayantilal Shah on January 27. The first complaint
was entertained only on February 2 but by that time Shah had fled,''
he says.
There
are hundreds of others who lost homes and family members and want
to see the errant builders behind bars. But the police haven't even
arrested most of them yet.
Fifty
eight police cases have been registered against builders but only
six have been arrested so far. According to the city police, which
woke up very late to register cases against them, the rest are all
absconding. While the six arrested include Mansi builder Raju Vyas,
big builders like Satish Shah, Rakesh Shah, Rashmin Patel, Chandravadan
Modi, Girish Patel, Kanubhai Patel, Bhupendra Sheth, Jayantilal
Shah and Tulsidas Sanghvi are all absconding.
Angry
residents say it is the police's own doing that let the builders
get away from under their noses. While bodies piled up after the
January 26 quake, police sat contemplating what to do.
And
by the time people, numbed by the death and destruction, came out
to file complaints, the builders had already flown the coop. For
almost a week, the police did not register a single case. By the
time cases were registered, builders had got away.
"What
did they do for 20 days when more than 50 buildings collapsed killing
700 people?'' asks Haresh Jhalla who owned a flat in Jala Smruti
Apartment in Maninagar which collapsed killing around 16 people.
"My builder Rakesh Shah is responsible for the death of 21
people. Three apartments he constructed collapsed but still police
took so many days to register a complaint against him. But by that
time he had already fled. He was in Surat for some time but he's
fled from there too I think,'' said Jhalla.
"Everyone
knows Shikhar builder Satish Shah was very much here even after
cases were registered against him but police took no action. He
was preparing affidavits and talking to the Shikhar Earthquake-Affected
Members Association,'' says member Rahul Purohit. "There is
even a case of rioting against him after he got Shikhar residents
beaten up but still he was not detained. Now they claim he has been
booked under PASA but what is the use when he has already fled the
city.''
Haren
Pandya says an alert has been sounded at the airports and other
exits and IDs of builders provided to immigration officials to prevent
them from escaping. But few are happy with that. "It's like
closing the stable door after the horses have fled,'' says Ramesh
Jain of the collapsed Vrunda Vihar.
Police
Commissioner P C Pande denies arrests are delayed. "You cannot
just catch hold of someone as soon as a complaint is registered.
You have to collect evidence and prepare a case before arresting
him.'' "But while the cases were being prepared the builders
not only shifted their families and bank accounts, they themselves
managed to flee,'' says Deepak Babaria who heads the Ahmedabad City
Earthquake Affected People's Association.
Naveen
Modi, who lived in Giriraj Apartments where 26 died and whose builder
Tulsidas Sanghvi is missing, sums up the public anger: "First
they registered cases under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting
to murder) and 120/B (criminal conspiracy), then they added 420
(cheating) and 467 (forgery). And when they went underground added
PASA. You think it is great consolation for us?''
Other
stories in the series
» His
building killed 100, he’s on the run, his files missing
» Buck-passing
shatters survivors' hopes
» In
Ahmedabad, crooks build dreams to let them crash
» Officials,
professionals hand in glove with builders
» The
politician is the builder's best friend here
» Builders
were crooks, govt was an accomplice
» They
built on quicksand of greed
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