Mumbai encounter specialist Daya Nayak suspended
Mumbai:
Key Mumbai Crime Branch encounter specialist Daya Nayak, who is in
the eye of the storm over accumalating assets beyond his known sources
of income, was today suspended from service. The decision was taken after
the city's anti-corruption bureau recoveredat least Rs.9 crores (two million
dollars) worth of illegal assets in raids carried out on Saturday. Briefing
reporters about the suspension order, Joint Commissioner of Police (Law
and Order) Arup Patnaik said that it was taken on the recommendation of
the ACB. Nayak is now likely to move the Bombay High Court to grant him
anticipatory bail. Nayak has been absconding ever since the ACB raided
his residence and sent out a team to investigate his assets at his native
place Mangalore and in Goa. Nayak is believed to be hiding at his native
village Yennehole in Mangalore. On Saturday, raids were simultaneously
conducted in Lokhandwala, Kandivili and Goregaon in Maharashtra and in
Mangalore (Karnataka). Two finance companies, Ojus Finance and Kuber Housing
Private Limited, alleged to be run by one of Nayak s associates, were
also raided in Mumbai. Daya Nayak's fall from grace began in 2004 when
a petition was filed by a journalist Ketan Tirodkar, who had alleged that
Nayak had links with the underworld and that he possessed disproportionate
assets. It was also alleged that Nayak used to kill the rivals of underworld
dons with whom he had made links on the pretext of police encounters.
Nayak became a celebrated police officer with over 83 encounters in his
name when he was associated with the Mumbai Crime Branch. He rose to fame
after he gunned down two of underworld don Chhota Rajan's aides in December
1996. But trouble began when Ketan Tirodkar claimed that Nayak had close
links with Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel and that he had gained monetarily
through the liaison. Taking note of the allegationa, a special Maharashtra
Control of Organised Crime Act court ordered an enquiry into Daya Nayak's
wealth. Assistant Commissoner of Police Dilip Sawant, the investigating
officer, submitted his report to Mumbai's Commissioner of Polcie A N Roy
in October 2005. According to the report , most of the investments were
made in the name of Nayak's wife. The report also claimed that Nayak owns
a fleet of luxury tourist buses and a travel company in the name of Vishal
Travels in Andheri, besides a penthouse on Malad-Link Road registered
in the name of one of his relatives. Though two Hindi movies inspired
from the life of Daya Nayak have been made, his links with the film industry
have also been revealed in the report. The report states that he himself
had financed two films, a Kannada film titled Encounter Daya Nayak and
a Hindi film Kagaar. The ACB has identified a person called Mansoor Hemjady
who paid for the travel and hotel bills when Nayak's crew were in Dubai
for a shoot. Mansoor also ran a website called dayanayak.com. The other
film inspired by the life of Daya Nayak is the Ram Gopal Verma s 'Ab Tak
Chhappan' starring Nana Patekar.'
- Jan 23, 2006
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