Key police informer missing

“I just what to know what happened to my brother, whether he is dead or alive and if he is dead then what happened to his body,” says Ashok Thorat, whose bother Praveen, an alleged associate of gangster D.K. Rao and a long time police informer has been missing for nearly four months, reports Shailendra Mohan.

“I just what to know what happened to my brother, whether he is dead or alive and if he is dead then what happened to his body,” says Ashok Thorat, whose bother Praveen, an alleged associate of gangster D.K. Rao and a long time police informer has been missing for nearly four months.

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Ashok said that the Joint CP (crime) told him that a special team had been formed to search for Praveen. Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Deven Bharti said that the investigations were on.

Praveen went missing just before Rao was released from jail. Ashok says that his brother had left the house on the morning of October 7, 2009, but never returned. “Around noon, we got a call from one of his friends that his car was on Palm beach road and that it had met with an accident,” Ashok said.

A missing complaint was lodged with Dharavi police but following their, Ashok sent complaint letters to the home minister, Commissioner of Police, Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) and Additional Commissioner of Police (crime).

“We fear he was abducted by Pradeep Sharma and O P Singh’s wife,” Ashok said, adding that Sharma had threatened his brother, accused for Singh’s murder, several times.

Ashok claimed that Praveen was named in Singh’s murder only because of his proximity to Rao. Sources said that Praveen carried out extortions for Rao and was his most trusted lieutenant. The police initially refused to take the case seriously as Praveen had a previous criminal record and felt that the family may have asked him to flee the city.

A senior police official said: “The names of PI Sharma and O P Singh’s wife has cropped up in the investigations.”