As Sunil Jain’s Family Get Threat Calls, They Spent Crores In Extortion Money And Lakhs For Police Protection
Mumbai : Sunil Jain, brother of builder Pradeep Jain who was shot dead by Abu Salem’s men inside his Juhu office, said that even though the gangster has been sentenced to life imprisonment, he and his family will live in terror for all their life, as they continue to get threat calls.
Since March 7, 1995, the day his brother had 17 bullets pumped into his body by two shooters Salim Haddi, and Rajesh Igwe – who later turned out to be a constable serving with the Mumbai police – in their office near Cooper Hospital, Sunil has experienced the worst time of his life.
In the two decades since Pradeep’s murder and the ensuing trial, Sunil and his family have lived under police or private protection, always fearing for their lives and being terrorised by constant threat calls from Salem’s henchmen. “Mumbai is no longer a safe place for me and my family. Salem’s men used to barge into my residence and threaten me all the time. After 2005 when Salem was extradited, I was so tired of everything that I became a hostile witness, left everything and went into hiding. And I continue to live like that because I have no other choice,” Sunil said.
Both before and after Salem’s extradition, Sunil not only had to spend crores in extortion money which the former’s henchmen demanded, but also had to spend several lakhs for the police protection. “Between 2011 and 2014 I have spent over Rs 47 lakh on police protection, which was previously removed or reduced several times. Since the police protection was mostly inadequate I also had to hire private security guards to protect myself and my family,” he said.
On the 13th day ritual after his brother’s death, Sunil had received calls from Salem and his men where they laughed at Pradeep’s death and dared Sunil to act against them.
Although Sunil was expecting a death sentence for Salem, he said that he will not pursue the matter to Supreme Court as it would take up another 20 years of his life. “I could have been 10 years ahead in my life and my career, but because of this episode I lost everything – and it was only compounded by the inadequacy of our system, where despite there being an eye witness, it took two decades to punish a criminal responsible for heinous crimes,” he said.
However, during his struggle Sunil also found some people who supported him all along and to whom he is grateful. “Except for a few officers, I have had a very bad experience with the police. If a witness in such a high profile case is given such lax security, I can only imagine how it must be for the common man,” he said ruefully.
With a virtually bleak future, Sunil now just wants to spend time with his family and concentrate on rebuilding his life – and giving it at least a semblance of being healthy and safe.
Sindhu J Mansukhani
