UP Police seizes property of jailed SP MLA's close aide

Uttar Pradesh Police on Wednesday seized a two-story building belonging to Shauqat alias Pahelwan – a close aide of jailed Samajwadi Party MLA Irfan Solanki – under the Gangster Act, officials said on Wednesday.

A heavy deployment of police and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) was made during the confiscation proceedings.

''We have seized a premises having an area of 1162 square metres and worth about Rs 30 crore belonging to SP MLA Irfan Solanki's close associate Shauqat who is currently lodged in Kanpur district jail,'' Station House Officer (SHO), Pheelkhana, Sunil Kumar Singh said.

''The building housed the office of the Crime Branch Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) and this step has been taken in connection with several cases and under the UP Gangsters Act,'' he said.

The CB-CID office has been exempted from the seizure, whereas the rest of the portion which belonged to Shauqat has been sealed, the SHO added.

It has been decided that several other high-rise buildings erected illegally without getting maps sanctioned by the Kanpur Development Authority (KDA) and also raised on government land in Gwaltoli pocket will also be seized in the coming days, Singh told PTI over a call.

The SHO said over three dozen properties of MLA Solanki, his brother Rizwan and their associates, including builder Shauqat alias Pahelwan, history-sheeter Mohammad Ejaz alias Ajjan, corporator Mannu Rahman, former corporator Mohammad Mursaleen alias Bholu, Mohammad Shareef and Israel alias Hatewala have been identified. All of them have been lodged in different jails.

The properties identified in Jajmau, Chakeri, Chamanganj, Beckonganj, Gwaltoli and Civil Lines, which have been amassed through illegal means, have an estimated value of Rs 150 to Rs 200 crore, Singh said.

Joint Commissioner of Police (law and order) Anand Prakash Tiwari said, ''We sought help from the Kanpur Development Authority and the Kanpur Municipal Corporation to find details of the properties belonging to the SP MLA and his gang members.'' The process of confiscation of properties belonging to Solanki, Shauqat and others began on February 10 when police seized the Hilal Compound, which houses 27 flats, worth Rs 20 crore in Jajmau under the UP Gangsters Act, he said.

On the next day, police seized another under-construction apartment worth about Rs seven crore in Machliwala Hata in the Gwaltoli area which belonged to Shauqat.

On March 3, the jailed MLA Irfan Solanki's plot having an area of 300 square meters worth Rs 5 crore in Ghaziabad and a flat owned by MLA and his wife in Greater Noida were also seized, JCP told.

More properties owned by Solanki, his family members, Shauqat and other gang members will be seized in the coming days, JCP Tiwari told PTI.

Solanki and Rizwan are in prison since December 2 last year for allegedly harassing a woman and setting her house on fire in a bid to grab her plot.

They surrendered before the police commissioner after they were booked for rioting and arson.

A four-time MLA, Solanki is currently lodged in Maharajganj jail.