Tirupati: The beleaguered Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Board has been hit by another “VIP” missile. And worse, the VIP is suspected to be a member of the gang of Chhota Shakeel, the right hand man of India’s most wanted Dawood Ibrahim.
Apparently, one Ajay Navandar of Mumbai, alleged to be a Chhota Shakeel aide, was accorded royal treatment and VIP darshan twice, when the temple was jampacked for the auspicious Vaikunta Ekadasi and Dwadesi earlier this week.
It turns out from Navandar’s admission that he had accompanied two Maharashtra VIPs — state minister for housing Sachin Ahir, and, separately, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray — to the temple.
TTD chairman Kanumuri Bapiraju confirmed to mediapersons in Tirumala that Navandar had accompanied Ahir. He said he had no idea that Navandar had underworld links and that he was part of an entourage that was accorded protocol passes.
Navandar has denied any links with mafia don Dawood Ibrahim as alleged and has threatened to send a legal notice to Telugu Desam MLA Gali Muddu Krishnama Naidu for defamatory comments.
“I have neither links (with Dawood) nor a single case against me. I had darshan of the Lord twice. I came directly from Bengaluru and had darshan on Vaikunta Ekadasi at 4 am along with a Maharashtra minister. The second time I had darshan was two days later with Uddhav Thackeray. No special arrangements were made for me,” he said.
TD MLA Muddu Krishnama Naidu demanded a probe into how Navandar got to stay for three days on the Tirumala hills and was accorded protocol passes on three consecutive days.
Next: Maha minister rebuts allegations
Maha minister rebuts allegations
Mumbai: Minister of state for urban development Sachin Ahir on Thursday denied allegations that he was accompanied by Dawood Ibrahim’s gangmembers when he visited the Tirupati temple on January 10.
TTD chairman K. Bapiraju has admitted that the board arranged darshan for the aides of Dawood Ibrahim who had gone there along with Ahir.
Rubishing the allegation, Ahir said, “It is true that I visited Tirumala Balaji temple for darshan. But there were no Dawood Ibrahim aides with me. I was accompanied by Narendra Hete, vice chairman, UFO Moviez and one of my industrialist friends. The claims made are completely baseless.”
The other person who accompanied Ahir was Ajay Navandar, who claims to be an NCP member and a film distributor. He said, “I had gone to Tirumala with Sachinbhau, but I am not associated with the Dawood Ibrahim gang. There was some misunderstanding that he been cleared.” When asked what was the misunderstanding, he gave no answers.
However, sources from Mumbai police said that Navandar is suspected to have links with don Chhota Shakeel and was also quizzed in a few cases. His was a suspect in the 2008 murder of gambling club owner Zahid Hassan Amir alias Chhote Miya.
“We had learnt that Navandar was a mataka (illegal lottery) operator. He owed Rs 2 crore to Chhote Miya, for which Chhote Miya had confiscated his car. But after investigation, we did not find any material against him,” said a crime branch officer.
Later in 2012, Navandar also contested an election for a legislative council seat from Amravati as an independent candidate, but lost the election.
