Mumbai: After the Mumbai School Sports Association was alleged of fraud and syphoning off money by Indian Spiderman Gaurav Sharma, the association has hit back alleging that Sharma and his family are trying to capture the prestigious association. MSSA refuted all the allegations made by Sharma and is working on pursuing legal action against him.
Sharma, who is known as Indian Spiderman for scaling high-rise buildings in the city, had held a press conference raising serious allegations against the MSSA and its chairman father Jude Rodrigues of syphoning-off crores of rupees by running a fake organisation. Following Sharma’s allegations, MSSA held a press conference on Tuesday to counter the allegations and raise a set of allegations against him.
On behalf of the association, father Rodrigues claimed that Sharma had forged the identity card of the association to portray himself as a member. The association’s secretary Esmero Figardo presented an affidavit that said that he or the association has not issued the card to Sharma. Father Rodrigues also alleged that he had falsely said to have represented a school in Goregaon, where he was not employed and ran for the association’s election.
The association also claimed that the figures of funds shown in the inspection report of the charity commissioner have been mistakenly mentioned as Rs. 14 crores whereas the actual amount in the account was only Rs. 1.4 crore. The association also raised concerns about documents of the land purchased in Manori to be forged since it did not contain the designations of Jude Rodrigues and Esmero Figardo.
The committee members of MSSA alleged that Sharma was aware that the association's name change was pending with the charity commissioner and had been using loopholes to take over the organisation. Presenting two documents of registration, father Rodrigues claimed that Sharma has registered ‘Bombay High School Athletic Association’ in Mumbai and ‘Mumbai School Sports Association’ in Pune as two separate companies. He also claimed that after the registration, Sharma filed a complaint with the police in 2022 alleging that he was not being allowed in the association.
“He registered both the new companies on his relatives’ names, claimed to be its CEO and then filed a complaint claiming right on our association. He along with his family and friends are trying to capture this organisation by fooling the police. He had even dragged two MLAs into the matter who initially supported him but once we met them and disclosed the truth, they restricted his entry in their offices,” said father Rodrigues.The committee members also alleged that there are other people, who were voted out of the association in 2006, behind this act and Sharma has been made the face. The association said that they are planning to pursue legal action against Sharma after consulting with their legal advisors.
The Free Press Journal contacted Sharma, who accepted that he has got the two companies registered. He countered the allegations and claimed that all the documents he has presented have been obtained from sources like Right To Information and other government offices. He also claimed to be a legitimate member of the association possessing all the documents from the school as well as the association.
“Rogrigues had threatened the principal’s brother and made a forged letter saying I don’t belong to the school. The 7/12 extract of Manori land was also received through RTI. To prove that they were running a fake association, I got these companies registered and that could be done only because these names were available for registration. This is the turn-around point in the battle and I will now file a petition against them for falsely using the names of my companies,” he said.
