'Use MCOCA against contract killers'

Can provisions of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act be invoked against killers involved in serious offences?

The Bombay high court posed this question to the state government while hearing a petition filed by former journalist Ketan Tirodkar on Friday. In his petition, Tirodkar claimed that the police have failed to invoke the stringent provisions in several high-profile murders carried out by contract killers.

“Cases involving contract killing are mushrooming. If organised syndicates are not involved in such cases, where would these middle-class youth [contract killers] get foreign-make weapons from?” asked the division Bench of Justice BH Marlapalle and Justice UD Salvi.

In his petition, Tirodkar has cited several high-profile cases such the murder of senior Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar and the fake encounter of Ramnarayan Gupta alias Lakhan bhaiya, an alleged Chhota Rajan aide.

The high court also mentioned the recent killing of senior journalist J Dey where Rajan had allegedly given a contract to sharpshooters.

Tirodkar alleged that provisions of MCOCA were being selectively applied and the stringent legislation aimed at curbing organised crime should be applied in every case involving a contract killing. He argued that contract killing has been cited as one of the objectives to be targeted under the MCOCA, but its provisions had not been applied either in Nimbalkar’s or Gupta’s murder case.

However, the police had invoked the MCOCA against sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakur and her aides who were arrested in connection with the blast at Malegaon in September 2008.

The judges also cited the case in which additional district collector Yashwant Sonawane was burnt alive by the oil mafia at Manmad in Nashik district as one of the cases in which MCOCA was applied without ensuring that the legal requirements are met.

When additional public prosecutor Ajey Gadkari pointed out that invoking the MCOCA requires a proposal from the investigation officer, the bench commented that then it is their responsibility to forward such a proposal.

“Then why are you being selective, you should do it as a matter of routine [for every grave case involving ingredients of organised crime],” the bench said.  The petition will next be heard after three weeks, when the state government has to file its reply.