AMIDST tight security, Kamptee Municipal Council (KMC), using bulldozers, razed dreaded gangster Ranjit Safelkar’s unauthorised palatial bungalow and Raj Mahal Lawns in Kamptee area on Wednesday. The KMC, after receiving a letter from Nagpur City Police, verified the ‘Raj Mahal’ bungalow and lawns and constituted a special demolition squad. In the presence of Deputy Commissioner of Police Neelotpal and other senior officers, under the supervision of Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar and KMC Chairman, deployed earth movers and demolished the huge structure constructed by Safelkar with the money which he received by indulging in serious crimes, including contract killings, extortion and property grabbing.

 

Safelkar and his gang members, including Bharat Hatey, Isak Maske and Hemant Gorkha Bhato were arrested in the sensational Manish Srivas murder case after nine years. Safekar and his gang were also allegedly involved in the sensational murder of Eknath Nimgade, an architect-cum-valuer, by accepting a ‘supari’ of Rs five crore to grab his Rs 200 crore land on Wardha Road from a prominent businessman-cum-broker. Similarly, Safekar and his accomplices were involved in several other serious crimes but their victims were not coming forward to lodge complaints against them due to fear. Architect Nimgade (70) was shot dead at Agarsen Chowk on September 6, 2016, and the probe was transferred to the CBI in November that year after kin approached High Court claiming laxity on part of the city police. Safelkar organised a team of 15 history-sheeters, including shooters, from UP, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Safelkar paid them Rs 1.75 crore as advance to eliminate Nimgade.

 

CBI had announced a bounty of Rs five lakh to the person(s) providing concrete information about Nimgade’s killers but had allegedly closed the matter for reasons best known to the country’s premier investigation agency. City Police Chief Amitesh Kumar then booked Safelkar and his gang members under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) recently. Police decided to seize Safelkar’s properties and demolish his unauthorised bungalow and lawns with the assistance of Kamptee Municipal Council. Architect Nimgade’s case was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation as the city police was clueless about the killers.