Mumbai: The Kandivali police are yet to take action against Lalsingh Rajpurohit, who is Shinde Sena's Vibhag Pramukh for Malad, Charkop and Kandivali, for allegedly demanding extortion from a road construction contractor. Meanwhile, another cheating complaint has been filed against him at the Kandivali police station, but the FIR is yet to be filed.
Seeking action, Sena UBT office-bearer Akhil Chitre wrote to the police chief and also raised serious allegations against Rajpurohit in a post on X. “Rajpurohit is close to Siddhesh Kadam, the brother of minister of state for home, Yogesh Kadam. I suspect the Kadam family supports him,” alleged Chitre.
Claiming that the Kadams attended Rajpurohit's functions even after an FIR against him, he asked, “Are the police evading action due to political favouritism?” In an apparent reference to Dhananjay Munde, Chitre said, “A minister lost his ministerial position due to his hooligans in Beed. Now, action should be taken against Rajpurohit’s political leader, who is a minister.”
Anand Bhoite, deputy commissioner of police, Zone 11, said, “We are searching for him in the extortion case, while in the cheating complaint, we will record the statements and then file the FIR.”
On December 28, the Kandivali police booked six political workers in the extortion case. Apart from Rajpurohit, the other accused were Ganesh Pawar, Pinto Jaiswal, Vikas Gupta, Nilesh Jaiswal and Suresh Shah. Both the Jaiswals were arrested, but later released on bail. However, Rajpurohit has not yet applied for anticipatory bail, instead he has moved the Bombay High court (HC), seeking quashing of the case.
The cheating complaint against him was filed on January 6 by Sushma Pai. The Borivali resident alleged that in 2021, she wanted to sell her shop because she needed funds for her paralysed husband's treatment. A deal was struck with Rajpurohit for Rs52 lakh, he gave a small token amount and took possession of the shop, said Pai, alleging that he didn't pay the balance amount.
Meanwhile, Rajpurohit asserted that the happenings are politically-motivated and an attempt to tarnish his image. “When the road work was underway, I went there just to ask why the BMC was digging everywhere, causing inconvenience to citizens. The officer responded very rudely,” he said, confirming that he had moved the HC.
Regarding the Pai matter, he claimed, “We signed a memorandum of understanding. I am ready to pay her money, but she is not ready to accept it. I am even paying rent to her regularly. She is taking the matter the wrong way. I have sent her a defamation notice.”
