Mumbai: 4 held for trying to extort money on pretext of breach of Covid-19 norms

Photo for representational purpose

Four BMC ‘clean-up marshals' were arrested by MIDC police for allegedly threatening people and extorting money from them for not following Covid-19 related norms, an official said.

The accused worked with a private security agency which is appointed by the Mumbai civic body to collect fine from those who spit in public places and do not follow other cleanliness norms, the police official said on Saturday.

The accused have been identified as Pramod Mane, 29, Vishal Suryavanshi, 30, Dadasaheb Godse, 29, and Aakash Hanumant Gaikwad (29). Another accused Ajit Singh, 30, is absconding.

The complainant was identified as Anil Banbarilal Jalan, 50, who runs Gift Planet Private limited company at Nandeep Industrial Estate at JB Nagar, Andheri (East). Police said the accused extorted Rs 20,000 from Jalan.

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PSI Abhishek Patil of MIDC police station said, "On April 21 at 2 pm the accused Ajit Singh entered Gift Planet Company with another co-accused. They showed their BMC ID cards and told owner Jalan that he had violated Covid-19 guidelines and will have to pay fine or else they will register an FIR against them. The marshals then demanded Rs 20,000 from Jalan for not filing an FIR. Jalan paid them. The marshals again came on May 14 at 2.30 pm and again demanded Rs 20,000. They told him if he does not pay he will have to give a fine of Rs 1 lakh. Jalan then filed a complaint."

"Our team immediately rushed at spot and caught the four accused while Singh is managed to escaped. We also recovered id cards from them and we are verifying it that it's original id card of fake IDs," Patil added.

Speaking with mid-day zone 10 DCP Maheshwar Reddy said, "After arresting accused we contacted to the Assistant officer of Solid Waste management Pankaj Gonge of K-East ward and supervisor Dilip Jadhav and they told us that these accused are contract labourers. They were hired for collecting fine from people spitting in public places, throwing garbage and roaming without masks. Instead of taking fine, these accused started threatening people and extorting money from them. We have arrested them under sections 384 (punishment for extortion) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention). All accused were produced in court and remanded to police custody for 14 days."

(with PTI inputs)