Two nabbed in loot and demolition case involving retired deceased Naval officer in Clementown area of Dehradun

Two nabbed in loot and demolition case involving retired deceased Naval officer in Clementown area of Dehradun

S.M.A.KAZMI

Dehradun , Feb 5

Twenty three days after the demolition and looting of house of a deceased retired naval officer in Clementown area of Dehradun, Uttarakhand police has succeeded in nabbing two alleged culprits in the case.

In a bizarre case, the British era house of a deceased naval officer in Clementown area of Dehradun  city was razed to the ground and all the belongings looted by the land mafia in alleged connivance with the police on January 12, 2022.

Kusum Kapoor, wife of the deceased naval officer was residing in the said property with her mentally challenged daughter and had gone to NOIDA on January 7, 2022 for some work when her house was raided and demolished on January 12, 2021.

Kusum Kapoor recalling her horror said that she informed by her neighbours on telephone on January 12, 2022 that her house is being demolished with the help of JCB machines and tractors.  She contacted local police official on phone who assured her of action but to her shock and surprise when she reached Dehradun after five hours , the demolition was going on brazenly. On reaching the police station, the incharge of Clementown police station ,Narendra Gehlot rebuked the hapless women and threatened to register cases against them and did not help.  In absence of any relief, she went to the residence of Senior Superindent of Police ,Dehradun Janmejay Khanduri on January 13, 2022 where she had to wait for four hours to get an audience with the district police chief. She was asked to come to the office the next day. She had to again wait till evening from morning to meet the SSP. He assured to inquire into the issue and did nothing.

Finally, after running from pillar to post, she finally went to meet Ashok Kumar, Director General of Police, Uttarakhand  who ordered an inquiry into the case and ordered that a case be registered against the alleged culprits. He also ordered the suspension of Narendra Gehlot, the police station incharge of Clementown police station.

An FIR was registered under sections 147, 452,447,427,323, 506 of the IPC against one Amit Yadav and others. On the instructions of the DGP, a team was constituted to nab the culprits.

On February 4, 2022, Uttarakhand police announced that two alleged culprits namely Randeep Singh Randhawa and Nand Kishore Kala have been nabbed. The police also claimed that the looted household goods have also been recovered from Tehri Garhwal.  Both the nabbed accused stated that they are involved in property dealing and was in touch with one Veersain kashyap who showed them the property. They said that they met lawyers Saurab kapoor and Deepak Gupta along with Amit yadav and Mona Randhawa, who informed that all the legal documents of the said property have been prepared.

They further stated, as per police that they took three JCBs and tractor trolleys on the Jan 12, 2022, when the owner was away and looted the house hold goods and demolished the building. The household goods were put in a vacant flat on Sahstradhara road and then after few days taken to Tehri. Three almirahs, one bed, two sofa sets, refrigerator, washing machine and other house hold goods have been recovered.

Kusum kapoor, giving details of her property, she informed that the maternal uncle of her husband Mohinder Malik had purchased the property in 1996 and allowed her husband Commander V.K. Kapur to reside and look after the property.

Interestingly, the women came to know about the modus operandi of the land mafia. A case was filed in civil court in Dehradun by one Amit Yadav, a native of Uttar Pradesh seeking cancellation of sale deed of Mohinder Malik but in a bid to circumvent the due process of law, the address of Mohinder Malik was wrongly mentioned in the petition so that the defendents do not get to know about the case.  Mohinder Malik had passed awayyears ago but still he was made a party in the case and an ex-parte order was obtained cancelling the sale deed.  But the even with an order of cancellation of sale deed, the land mafia had no right to enter the property, loot the belongings and demolish the building.

Preeti  Khattar, daughter of Kusum kapoor said that the household goods recovered by the police are in shambles and the gold jewellery, medals and trophies of her father and other valuables are missing. “ i was called by the police to identify the household goods which were totally broken and in bad shape,” she said.

The mother-daughter duo who had been living in the open in the premises of their house said that the police action was “too little and too late.”  They asked that why after so many days, the mastermind of the entire episodes are still roaming scot free  and who would rebuild their house which had been demolished forcing them to stay in a van in such cold conditions.

The mother daughter duo  had been running from pillar to post to get justice plan to meet senior police officers again to seek justice.