Extortionist told victim that the Anti-Corruption Bureau had a list of complaints against the latter for demanding bribes; accused offered to settle the matter if the ward officer paid up
Officials of the Matunga police station arrested a labourer on Saturday morning for trying to extort lakhs from a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officer from F North ward by posing as assistant commissioner of police from the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
The arrested labourer was identified as Sachin Jadhav. He tried to extort Rs 9 lakh from Mohammad Hanif Shaikh. Shaikh said he received a call on Friday wherein the caller mentioned that he was from the ACB. The accused mentioned that he had Shaikh’s call detail record and that the ACB had received several complaints against him for demanding and taking bribes. The caller then said that all the complaints against Shaikh would be dropped if he paid him Rs 9 lakh.
ADVERTISEMENT
ACP Ravindra Khandagle (Zone IV) said, “Initially, when he received a call from the accused, Shaikh thought that someone was fooling him and that’s why he didn’t bother to register a complaint with the police.”u00a0The next morning, Shaikh received another call from the accused, asking him to report near a hotel in Dadar (W) and instructed him to hand over the amount to his man who would be waiting for him near the hotel.
The accused also said that once his man received the money, he would hand over Shaikh the file comprising complaints against him. The ACP said, “After Shaikh received a call on Saturday, he got scared and finally lodged a complaint at the Matunga police station following which we laid a trap and arrested the accused. The accused worked at the construction site for a local builder.” Jadhav was booked under sections 170 (personating a public servant) and 384 (punishment for extortion) of the Indian Penal Code.
He was produced in the court yesterday and was remanded in police custody. Police officials suspect that Jadhav, who has been doing liaison work for a local builder, must have come across the complainant at the BMC office following which he collected his details and tried to extort money from him by posing as an ACB officer. u00a0
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
