Tarot card reader extortion case: Four more held by Mumbai Police, probe ongoing, say officials

Accused with police after arrest in the extortion case. Pic/By Special arrangement

In a follow-up to an earlier report by mid-day on the extortion of a tarot card reader, Mumbai Police have arrested four more persons, including two women, taking the total number of arrests in the case to six. The women were allegedly operating an NGO while posing as social workers. The other accused includes a retired Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of the Mumbai Police and a journalist associated with a Hindi daily.

Extortion plot

According to police, the 40-year-old complainant, a tarot card reader, was called to a villa at Royal Palm in Aarey Colony on February 15 under the pretext of conducting a session for friends. On arrival, she was allegedly threatened by four men and two women, who warned they would implicate her in false prostitution and drug smuggling cases if she did not pay Rs 5 lakh. Under pressure, she transferred Rs 2 lakh online before approaching the Aarey police to lodge a complaint. A case was registered under the relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Read more: Fake crime branch officers extort Rs 2 lakh from woman in Aarey

Mastermind missing

During the probe, the crime detection team, under Senior Inspector Ravindra Patil and led by PSI Sachin Panchal, traced the bank account where the money was transferred. The account holder, Farhan Mustafa Qadri, 33, was arrested and revealed that the funds had been routed to his account by Ahmed, who is believed to be the mastermind and remains absconding.

Arrests made

Acting on further leads, police arrested the remaining accused, Swapnali Sunil Nadekar, 38; Kavita Ajay Yadav, 40; Rahul Suryakant Kambli, 41; Pradeep Mrityanjay Pathak, 36, and Eric Girgol Vegas, 60. Further investigation is underway to identify other victims and any additional accused.