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Sachin Sawant shot dead: Family says murder may be a result of SRA project tiff; residents refute claims
The project, to erect 1,000-odd rooms in five to buildings, was to take off soon after 2005, but has been stuck for years
Sanjay Sawant, brother of Shiv Sena leader Sachin Sawant, 46, who was shot dead near his home in Kandivli (East) on Sunday evening, said the family suspects that a dispute over an ongoing slum rehabilitation authority (SRA) project may have led to the murder.
Sawant used to live in a one-storey structure in Ganesh Krupa Chawl, Durga nagar on Akruli Road with his parents, brother, two sisters, wife and two children, a son aged 21 and a daughter aged 19. The chawl houses more than 1,300 people.
Sanjay said Sawant was pushing for an SRA project for the chawl and was the advisor to Akash Developers. The project, to erect 1,000-odd rooms in five to buildings, was to take off soon after 2005, but has been stuck for years. “A few days ago, all SRA-related papers for the project were cleared. The work was to kick-start this year. Certain groups in the chawl were against giving the project to Akash Developers. As my brother was at the forefront, they had a problem with it. They thought the builder was not trustworthy and wanted to give the project to someone else,” said Sanjay.
A few days ago, there was a minor fight in the chawl over putting up banners for the SRA project. Both the parties had approached Kurar police station to resolve it.
Sawant’s son Omkar said they are still shocked. “Around 8.15pm, Jagannath Verma, a real estate contractor who my father knew for more than a year, came with the news. He told us that my father asked him to run after being shot at in the chest,” he said.
After the attack on him on June 30, 2010, Omkar said, Sawant used to take along a few men for his safety. “On Sunday, he asked the men to leave, saying he would come back with Verma. Nobody helped my father. Instead of taking him to a doctor, shopkeepers pulled down the shutters,” he said. “Verma had started visiting the office very frequently for the past 10 to 15 days. He used to keep asking me about my father’s appointments. I refrained from giving him the information, as my father and family suspected Verma had a role in the 2010 attack,” said Omkar.
Nobody can murder someone over SRA conflict: residents
Even as Shiv Sena leader Sachin Sawant, who was shot dead near his Ganesh Krupa Chawl home on Sunday, was the advisor to Akash Developers to revamp his chawl under a slum rehabilitation authority (SRA) scheme, 100 families from the society said they didn’t trust the builder.
The families were among those who supported the developer in 2005. However, with no progress in sight, they started losing faith in the developer. A few years ago, they formed a committee to oppose the SRA project.
A resident, who headed the committee, said, “We used RTI and found out that some documents submitted by the builder to SRA were forged. The builder was not taking us into confidence. He was also not giving us information on the SRA project. We were not sure if we would get new homes. He wanted to relocate us to a place in the vicinity, which we didn’t want. So we decided to go against him.”
Elaborating on the recent tiff, he said, “The issue created a rift between us and the others [those supporting the developer]. On the past two occasions, there were police complaints and cross complaints at Kurar police station. But I don’t think anyone would think of murdering a person over it. We are peac-loving people.”
