‘Missing’ for years, files reappear within hours : Lievanta Millar

Mumbai Mirror: Mumbai: Friday, September 11, 2015.

Hours after Mumbai Mirror hit the stands on Thursday, reporting about the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) ordering a criminal case to be registered against the Slum Rehabilitation Authority's (SRA) Public Information Officer (PIO) for destruction of a public record, seven SRA officers rushed to the complainant's house in Andheri with a file, claiming it contained the "missing papers" and begging him not to drag the case further.

Businessman Prakash Furia had approached CIC Ratnakar Gaikwad, after the PIO failed to produce the plan submitted by a builder who sought to demolish Furia's shops in Malad to build a diamond market under the SRA scheme. Furia alleged that SRA wrongfully showed his private property as a slum. After he sought the file under RTI in 2013, the PIO kept dismissing his application saying the file was 'missing'.

After Furia complained about the PIO earlier this year, on September 1 Gaikwad ordered a criminal case to be registered against the PIO.

Around 5.45 pm on Thursday, two men arrived at Furia's residence claiming to be SRA officers and even showed him their identity cards. They said their seniors had read the Mirror article and called their department, forcing them to retrieve the file and personally hand them over.

Furia, however, refused to accept the file as they were in English. "I cannot read English and didn't want to be tricked. They also asked me to sign some papers. I called my lawyer and made them talk to him. My lawyer instructed me not to accept the file and said he was on his way," Furia said. "But the officers refused to wait for him."

Meanwhile, Furia called his son-inlaw, Hitesh Gala, who lives next door, to record the officer talking to the lawyer on phone. When Gala tried to do so, the officer asked him to stop recording the video and fled from Furia's residence.

Gala claims that while two officers were seated in the house, two others stood near the staircase and three others were at the building entrance. All of them left together, he said.

"The officers sat in my house for almost an hour, trying to convince me to accept the file. They kept saying they didn't know how the file disappeared, but had retrieved it," Furia said, adding that he will consult his lawyer on any further action.