3 convicted for trying to kill RTI activist

Pune Mirror: Pune: Saturday, 23 May 2015.

Three contract killers were convicted of attacking an RTI activist in 2011 and sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment by asessions court on Friday. Additional sessions judge AG Bilolikar held Altaf Shabbir Momin (29), Azhar Kalim Shaikh (22) and Nasim Mohammad Ansari (22) guilty of attempting to murder Arvind Kaushal. Umesh Goel, a 56-year-old builder and partner of Goel-Raisoni Associates, was acquitted, as also was Ganesh Chonde (30), a former employee of the construction firm.

According to the prosecution, Kaushal (44), a resident of Ganga Constella Co-operative Housing Society in Kharadi, was brutally attacked on April 8, 2011. The housing society is developed by Goel's construction firm. After obtaining permission from PMC's building permission department, Kaushal had exposed irregularities in the builder's plan, which proposed constructing shops on land reserved for a garden. The PMC issued a stop work notice to Goel-Raisoni Associates, which then suffered a loss of Rs 100 crore.

Police had claimed Chonde had received a Rs 50,000 contract from Goel for attacking Kaushal. Chonde then roped in Momin for the attack, who in turn hired Shaikh and Ansari.