In a significant crackdown on organized crime, the Pune City Police has invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the notorious Tipu Pathan gang in yet another land grab case that highlights the gang's continuing criminal activities.
The Land Grab Complaint
The case originated from a complaint filed by a 31-year-old woman from Mumbai who owns a 1,290 square feet plot at Sayyad Nagar in Pune's Hadapsar area. According to the First Information Report (FIR) registered at Kalepadal police station on October 12, the woman alleged that gangster Rizwan alias Tipu Pathan, 34, along with his gang members, had illegally taken possession of her property.
The criminals not only occupied the land but went a step further by constructing a tin shed on the property and subsequently renting it out to third parties. When the legitimate owner confronted them and demanded that they vacate her land, the gang members responded with threats and extortion demands.
Criminal Intimidation and Police Action
The gang allegedly demanded Rs 25 lakh from the woman and threatened to kill her when she asked them to leave her property. This brazen act of intimidation prompted immediate police action, with authorities booking Pathan and 12 of his gang members under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The charges included multiple serious offenses such as:extortion, criminal intimidation, criminal trespass, wrongful restraint, unlawful assembly, and rioting. Senior Police Inspector Mansingh Patil of Kalepadal police station confirmed these developments through an official press release issued on Friday.
Background of Notorious Gangster
Tipu Pathan is no stranger to law enforcement agencies, with a substantial criminal record that includes approximately 30 serious offenses spanning murder, attempt to murder, and multiple extortion cases. Currently, Pathan and several of his gang members are lodged in jail, though their criminal network continues to operate.
The police intensified their crackdown on Pathan's activities after a viral video from April this year showed him purportedly hurling money during a qawwali programme in Pune. This public display of wealth and arrogance brought renewed attention to his criminal empire.
Recent Actions Against the Gang
Law enforcement agencies have maintained consistent pressure on the Pathan gang throughout the year. In April, police arrested Pathan, his brother Ejaz Pathan, and other associates in a separate land grab and extortion case filed by another woman at the same Kalepadal police station.
Following these arrests, authorities took the unusual step of parading Pathan and his aides in the Hadapsar area on April 12, sending a strong message to the criminal underworld. The MCOCA was initially invoked against the gang in this earlier case.
The crackdown turned deadly in June when gang member Shahrukh alias Atti Rahim, who was wanted in the same case, was gunned down by police during an encounter in Solapur. More recently, in September, the Pune City Police and Pune Municipal Corporation jointly demolished an alleged illegal construction carried out by Pathan at the Khwaja Manzil building in Sayyad Nagar using bulldozers.
The repeated invocation of MCOCA demonstrates the seriousness with which law enforcement is treating the organized crime activities of the Tipu Pathan gang, particularly their systematic pattern of land grabbing and extortion in the Pune region.
