Fire accused to fight MCOCA charges

The three alleged masterminds of the Deonar dumping ground fire who were booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in an extortion case are all set to challenge the move. The accused are claiming that MCOCA is not applicable on them and this has been done just to keep them behind bars for a longer period.

The police has imposed MCOCA on Atique and Rafique Khan, both brothers, in an extortion case. One Javed Qureshi is absconding in the same case. These are the same persons at whose instance the police claimed that fire was initiated earlier this year at the Deonar dumping ground. The brothers are one of the largest scrap dealers in Shivaji Nagar.

Speaking to The Asian Age, their lawyer Moin Khan said that the police has booked Atique and Rafique in an extortion case and have imposed MCOCA on them. He further said that extortion case was filed the day they were remanded to judicial custody in the Deonar dumping ground arson case on April 29.

Mr Khan further stated that the police has termed as “extortion” the act of running an illegal parking lot. “Rafique had licence to run parking lot till 2007 and his licence was not renewed thereafter. The police is claiming that despite not having a licence he was taking money from rickshaw drivers to park their rickshaws and from 2007 till now he has earned around `10 lakh which amounts to extortion,” he said.

“The police is also claiming that Atique is taking money for illegal dumping but the fact is that he has licence for dumping also and his dumping is done at Thane and not in Deonar so there is no case made out under MCOCA. We would challenge MCOCA soon, as condition of applying this law is not fulfilled by the police and it is done just to keep them behind bars so that the police is not blamed that the accused in the arson case at Deonar dumping ground have been released on bail,” he added.

Mr Khan also said that if Rafique was running an illegal parking lot, then the BMC should have initiated action or filed complaint, but in this case the civic body is silent and the police has filed a complaint saying that during investigation of arson they found out about this crime.