The Shivaji Nagar police is searching for the 27-year-old main accused behind the Deonar dumping ground blaze. Known as Ibrarali Akhabarali Shaikh alias Bhondu, he was externed a few years ago from Shivaji Nagar, where he resided three years ago.
The police said there are more than 14 cases registered against him in the Shivaji Nagar police station for murder, attempt to murder, extortion, and robbery.
Sources said, “Bhondu is an infamous goon in Shivaji Nagar, especially in the Deonar area. He has his team of followers who handle his scrap business from keeping the scrap to gathering and destroying it. His followers and he played a major role in the Deonar dumping ground fire. He has the support of some politician, so we could not arrest him until now.”
Investigating officer V. Bhujbal said, “We are searching for the accused in the case and Bhondu is one of them. We will arrest him soon.”
So far, the police has detained 16 scrap dealers in the dumping ground fire case till now and have let them go after they paid a fine. Their families claim the police falsely implicated them due to pressure from their seniors to crack the case of repeated fires at the dumping ground.
In February and March massive fires broke out at the ground, creating panic among civic officials and local residents. The Shivaji Nagar police arrested 13 people in the last week. Nine accused are scrap dealers, all residents of slums behind the dumping ground, who would allegedly set fire to garbage so as to procure metal from it. The accused would send ragpickers, most of them minors and teenagers, into the dumping ground with instructions to scour for objects like watches, keyboards, remotes and anything that classifies as e-waste. These ragpickers would burn the plastic coating of these objects so that the inner wires could then be collected.
