PCR for Kadao till 17th
   Date :10-Jul-2020

Mangesh Kadao _1 &nb
 Mangesh Kadao being taken for PCR. (Pic by Satish Raut)
 
 
Staff Reporter:
 
JUDICIAL Magistrate First Class Vinayak Patil, on Thursday, remanded Shiv Sena’s suspended city unit chief Mangesh Shyamraoji Kadao to police custody till July 17. Facing charges of cheating, criminal breach of trust, extortion, obscene acts and issuing life threats in a case registered at Sakkardara Police Station, Kadao (45) was produced before the court by senior Inspector Bharat Kshirsagar of the Crime Branch. Seeking 10-day police custody remand (PCR) of accused Kadao, Senior Inspector Kshirsagar, who is investigation officer, informed the court that Kadao had made an agreement towards the sale of his shop with 48-year-old Devanand Babasaheb Shirke, a resident of Raghuji Nagar, in November 2013. Shirke had given Rs 18 lakh to Kadao at the time of agreement.
 
As per the agreement, the remaining amount of 3.50 lakh was to be given by Shirke at the time of registry. Since then, Shirke was requesting Kadao to register the property in his name. Instead of executing the sale deed of the shop, Kadao fraudulently mortgaged the same property with Shriram Finance Company and availed a loan of Rs 50 lakh against it. Kadao then attempted to extort Rs 20 lakh cash from Shirke after threatening to kill his family. The investigation officer also told the court that accused Kadao was involved in similar cases of cheating and extortion registered at different police stations across the city and his custodial interrogation was necessary for recovering the forged documents and money taken by him from his victims.
 
Interestingly, Adv Prakash Jaiswal, who appeared for accused Kadao, fairly accepted the grounds cited by the prosecution for obtaining police custody of his client but only till July 14. After hearing both sides, the court observed that the offences allegedly committed by the Kadao were of serious nature and required an in-depth probe. Considering the seriousness of the offences, the court granted police custody remand to Kadao till July 17. Kadao’s wife Dr Ruchita (38), who is a co-accused in a similar case of cheating was earlier arrested by the Crime Branch. Kadao was absconding after he was booked in as many as six cases of fraud and extortion. He was trapped by a team of Crime Branch from Pandhrabodi locality on Wednesday. Kadao and his men had also grabbed a house of one Vikram Madhukar Labhe at Bharat Nagar, A resident of Shivaji Nagar, Labhe (47) had purchased the house in 2012.
 
He then locked his Bharat Nagar house and shifted to Hyderabad with his family. Kadao and three of his accomplices stole cash, a television, a refrigerator and other household goods collectively worth Rs five lakh from the house. Kadao then demanded Rs 1.50 crore from Labhe for giving him possession of his house and thrashed him. He also threatened him of dire consequences. Likewise, Kadao defrauded several persons and attempted to extort money from them. Crime Branch has, so far, seized a Mercedes Benz car, a BMW car and a Harley-Davidson belonging to him.
 
Cops are now assessing the wealth including the moveable and immovable assets amassed by him and his wife through fraudulent means. Police have launched a manhunt for Kadao’s accomplices who were involved with him in such crimes. Commissioner of Police Dr Bhushan Kumar Upadhyay had already made an appeal to Kadao’s victims to come forward fearlessly and lodge complaints against the suspended city unit chief of Shiv Sena with the Crime Branch.