Nagpur: The Crime Branch of Nagpur Police on Wednesday arrested controversial Advocate Satish Mahadeorao Uke and his elder brother Pradeep for allegedly grabbing land of a widow on the basis of fake and forged documents. They were also booked under the Arms Act, according to reports in local media.
The Uke brothers were arrested on a production warrant and produced in the district court which sent them in judicial custody after rejecting the police’s plea for eight days custody. Uke brothers were in judicial custody after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had filed a money-laundering case against them in Mumbai.
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Satish (45) and Pradeep Uke (47), both residents of Plot No 1271, Parvati Nagar, were brought to the city from Arthur Road Jail, Mumbai, on a production warrant. Cops produced them before the Judicial Magistrate First Class who later remanded them to magisterial custody. Crime Branch arrested Uke brothers in a case registered under Sections 347, 354,354 (b), 354 (d), 452, 404, 420, 423, 465, 467,468, 471, 323, 294, 506, 34 of the Indian Penal Code, read with Sections 3+25 of the Arms Act, at Ajni Police Station on January 31, 2022 following a complaint lodged by Khairunissa Mohammad Samad.
A resident of Ajni Railway Quarter, Khairunissa (52) in her complaint had alleged that Uke brothers had usurped her husband’s five acre land in Khasra 53/3 and 53/5 at Bokhara by preparing fake and forged documents. She had also alleged that Pradeep Uke had threatened to kill her by pointing a pistol at her. The fraud was allegedly committed by the accused brothers between 2007 and 2020.
Seeking eight days police custody remand (PCR) of Uke brothers, Assistant Police Inspector (API) Omprakash Sontakke, who is the investigation officer (IO), told the court that the so-called agreement made by the accused with the complainant’s husband on March 3, 2006 bears only the signature of the witnesses and not their names. To find out the names of the witnesses, their custodial interrogation was necessary, he added.
API Sontakke stated that the police wanted to seize the pistol from accused Pradeep Uke and to find out from whom he had procured the firearm. The IO also stated that the Crime Branch wanted to seize the vehicles used by the accused duo for committing the crime and also to ascertain the other accused persons involved in the case, besides seizing the cheque book from accused Adv Satish Uke. With this background, the prosecution stated that custodial interrogation of the accused brothers was necessary.
Accused Satish Uke, who himself argued in the court along with other defence lawyers, pointed out that the case against him and his brother was already investigated by the Crime Branch and even the former Investigation officer (IO) API Nilesh Waghmare had filed the charge-sheet against him and his brother. Though there was a provision of filing a supplementary charge-sheet and probe the matter further, the former IO found no evidence against them, he alleged.
After hearing grounds cited by API Sontakke and Special Public Prosecutor Subodh Dharmadhikari for obtaining the PCR and arguments of the defence, the court remanded Uke brothers to magisterial custody.
