First ever major conviction under MCOCA in Delhi, claims police

Six people were convicted under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) by a court here on Friday, the Delhi Police said, claiming it was the first major conviction under the law in the city.

The quantum of punishment was pronounced by the court of Rakesh Syal, special judge MCOCA to Vipin Sharma, Sachin Sharma, Honey Sharma, Harshad Alam, Aman Alam, and Bhupender Singh under the Section 3 of the act for cheating job seekers, they said.

Vipin Sharma was the kingpin of the gang, which was involved in multiple cases of cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust, attempt to culpable homicide, wrongful confinement among others in the national capital, registered against them at various police stations in Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab.

P S Kushwaha, DCP (Special Cell) said that the crimes committed by the persons fell under the ambit of MCOCA and a separate case under Section 3 of MCOCA was registered at the Police Station of Special Cell, New Delhi, on December 19, 2009.

The case was investigated by L N Rao, the then ACP of Delhi Police.

During the probe, a large number of passports in the name of different persons with work visas of New Zealand and fake PAN cards, debit and credit cards, shopping cards, SIM cards among others were recovered at the instance of the accused persons, Kushwaha said.

Vipin was sentenced to 14 years in jail with a fine of Rs 55 lakh whereas others were awarded a 10-year jail term and fined Rs 14 lakh each, police said.

Of the fine imposed on the convicts, they must pay Rs 33.80 lakh to the 10 victims as compensation, the court said.

MCOCA was first enacted in Maharashtra in 1999 to crackdown on organised crime syndicates and the underworld. Its success there led to the act being extended to Delhi in 2002.