Complainant: Told Siddique his project was illegal in 2006

Mumbai: Abdul Salam Haji Dawood, a 50-year-old Bandra welder on whose complaint the Bandra police and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are conducting probes into an alleged Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scheme scam involving former Congress MLA Baba Siddique and his associates, claimed he had confronted Siddique about the ‘illegality of the project’ in 2006.

“It was during a rally in 2006 that Siddique announced he would redevelop the Jamaat-e-Jamooriyat chaal colony under the SRA, which was clear step towards exploiting the land parcel commercially, firstly by tagging of the plot as a slum and then getting the forged identities of people to add up 70 per cent in order to start the work,” Mr Dawood told The Asian Age. Mr Dawood, who is one of the residents of the colony, claimed to have opposed Siddique’s plan and decided to take his battle ahead since then.

Mr Dawood said, “The people were promised better houses, but I asked him how could chawls be redeveloped by tagging them as slums? He (Siddique) however headed the Mhada and everything became possible ultimately.”

He said his efforts since 2006 of gathering documents and approaching agencies were finally bearing fruits in Ramzan. Mr Dawood filed several RTI pleas and secured documents that revealed how the identity documents were tweaked to get the mandatory consent to start redevelopment.

Mr Dawood approached the Bandra court, which asked the Bandra police station to probe. However, upon investigation, officer Shailesh Pasalwar filed a ‘B’ summary report before the court stating that nothing suspicious was found in either their ration cards or photo passes that were used for allotments.

Mr Dawood, however, approached the ED and and provided them the documents concerned.