Ex-minister’s kin, 5 others held in cable guy abduction

Six people, including a former state minister’s brother, were arrested yesterday for assault and alleged kidnapping of a Kandivli-based...

Six people, including a former state minister’s brother, were arrested yesterday for assault and alleged kidnapping of a Kandivli-based cable operator on Tuesday. InCable Net operator Gopal Chakravarthy was among 40 cable operators in Kandivli (West) who were being terrorised by the accused.

Police picked up Sadanand Kadam, brother of former minister and incumbent MLA Ramdas Kadam, Robert Raj, Nitin Kini, Xavier Kalluurekal, Brian D’Costa, Rajshekar Indulkar and Hitesh Azane.

Kadam and Raj, who have a stake in the cable business, have allegedly been threatening smaller operators.

Story continues below this ad

An operator alleges that smaller operators are being forced to surrender their connections to the duo, who profit from ghost connections (connections not reported to the parent company).

He says that about 40 per cent of 40,000-odd connections here are ghost lines. ‘‘Threats from underworld are common if an operator protests against harassment,’’ Ulhas Mhatre, an operator, says. The modus operandi is to sever the operator’s line from the control room, leaving him with no choice but to negotiate a deal with the distributor and surrender some of his lines to him.

Chakravarthy, who has registered a complaint with the Kandivli police, is unhappy with the charges brought against the accused. ‘‘I repeatedly told police that Raj and Kadam’s men had kidnapped me and were demanding Rs 20 lakh but police have charged them under Sections 324 (assault), 363 (kidnapping) and 502 (2) (issuing threats) of the IPC,’’ he says.

While Chakravarthy has urged the police to book the accused under Section 387 (extortion) of the IPC, which is a non-bailable offence, police have slapped bailable offences against the accused.