Mumbai: Society chairman cooks up terror threat to take over flat

Bhushan Narayan Palkar, the accused

The Borivli police have arrested the 58-year-old chairman of a Gorai housing society, Bhushan Narayan Palkar, for falsely claiming that terrorists had entered the society's premises. Upon receiving the information, a significant number of police teams swiftly arrived at the scene early on Sunday morning as additional reinforcement had been sought.

After effectively cordoning off the society from all sides, the police restricted public access to the premises and an adjoining road.

Under the guidance of DCP Ajay Kumar Bansal and senior officers from Zone 11, including Ninad Sawant, Senior Police Inspector Jyoti Bhople and Police Inspector Pradeep Kale of the Borivli police station, along with other personnel, entered the society and surrounded the room where the alleged presence of terrorists was reported.

Following a knock on the door, the police officers promptly entered the house. After a thorough search, the occupants - one Madan Prajapati and his family - were interrogated. It was revealed that they had been tenants for a couple of months and were running a gift shop located nearby.

"The owner of this house, Pappuram Sutar, a resident of Pali, Rajasthan, had rented the room to his Prajapati and his kin, to whom he was related. Nothing suspicious was found during the house search," stated an officer from the Borivli police station.

The investigation traced the false report to the police control room to Palkar, an operations manager in Air India. Palkar, residing in house number 18, had intended to purchase house number 17 from its owner, Sutar. However, when Sutar refused to sell, Palkar allegedly orchestrated the false terrorist threat to instil fear, hoping that the owner would sell the property.

"We have registered the case and arrested Palkar under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. He was produced before the holiday court and remanded in police custody," added another officer.