According to a report by DeshGujarat, the Gujarat police have demolished illegal properties made on government land by the notorious gangster Sajid alias Sajju Ghulam Mohammad Kothari. The demolition was carried out with the assistance of the Surat Municipal Corporation, JCP and DCP personnel, and the crime branch PIO.
The wanted gangster Sajju Ghulam Mohammad, who lives in the Nanpura neighbourhood, was charged with land grabbing by the Surat crime branch. According to the report, the accused had illegally grabbed government-owned land adjacent to his home, prompting the collector to file a land-grab complaint against him.
Sajid is a history-sheeter who has long been on the Gujarat police’s wanted criminals list. Sajid alias Sajju Ghulam Mohammad Kothari and his gang have been notoriously involved in murder and attempt to murder cases registered in different police stations of the city. He is notoriously known for running gambling activities around his home in Jamrukh Gali of Nanpura, Adajan and Dindoli. Furthermore, Sajju’s gang is also involved in unlawful land acquisition as well as running drug cartels. Sajju’s brother Arif Kothari is wanted for running a gambling den in the Pander area.
On February 11, 2021, the Surat police had booked Sajid alias Sajju Gulam Mohammad Kothari, his brother Yunis, Samir Salim Shaikh, Javid Gulam Hussain, Mohammad Arif alias Popat Shaikh, Arif Abdul Rehman Shaikh, Mohommad Kamil Ali and Hasnain Tahir Kokawala and charged them under the Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime (GujCTOC) Act.
A month later, the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) had apprehended history-sheeter Sajju Kothari from Mumbai. Fearing arrest for many offences, Kothari escaped Surat, and the ATS was successful in tracking him down to a Mumbai neighbourhood after performing searches for him.
In 2018, when cops went to urge the gang to switch off the loud music system late at night in Nanpura, the group had assaulted a police sub-inspector.
In March 2016, police carried out a search at Kothari’s Surat residence. He was brought to Surat in connection with a case and presented before a court. Two months prior to this, Sajju had been detained under the Prevention of anti-social Activities Act and sent to the Bhuj jail.
However, when the police again detained him in March 2016, he went to Lajpore Jail himself and surrendered before the authorities there. The accused Sajju Kothari, however, clashed with the police at Lajpor jail and escaped later, after which the Surat police declared him as a wanted criminal.
In 2011 too, while serving a sentence in prison, Sajju was involved in the physical assault on three policemen, including the jailor, who had intervened when a fight broke out between two rival groups of inmates at a Surat sub-jail.
