₹164-crore extortion bid: ED searches premises of Khar resident Hiren Bhagat, others

ED searches locations in money-laundering probe against six, including liaison agent, extorting ₹164 crore from developer; arrests made, investigations ongoing.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday carried out searches at multiple locations in the city as part of its money-laundering probe against six people, including suspected liaison agent Hiren Bhagat, who allegedly tried to extort ₹164 crore from a developer.

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Among the places searched were the house of Bhagat in Khar West and the premises of a chartered accountant, agency sources said.

The ED’s probe is based on an FIR filed by the crime branch against Bhagat and five others. Four of them - Rajendra Shirsat, Rakesh Kediya, Kalpesh Bhosle and Avnish Dubey – were arrested on January 21 while another accused, A Sawekar, was arrested a day later. Bhagat was arrested on January 31.

According to the crime branch, Satish Dhanuka, a developer, had begun a slum rehabilitation project in Bandra East but he could not complete it as the co-operative housing society concerned, due to some reasons, cancelled the agreement with him. The redevelopment project then went to the firm of the complainant in the police case. As per a subsequent agreement, the complainant’s firm paid ₹8.10 crore to Dhanuka for the latter’s expenses and completed the project.

Investigations revealed that Dhanuka and his nephew, Kedia, suspected that the new developer may have earned huge profits in the project as the FSI (floor space index) had been enhanced by authorities, and hatched a plot to extort money from him. Kedia allegedly approached Shirsat, and the duo put together a team. The six accused allegedly planned to threaten the complainant to implicate him in an ED case if he did not pay them ₹164 crore, the sources said.

One of the accused contacted the developer on January 6, and after a brief discussion, asked him to attend a meeting with them on January 10 at a five-star hotel in south Mumbai, the police probe found. Later it was rescheduled at a coffee shop where the six were present along with the complainant. But as the developer did not want to pay the money, he approached the Bandra police with a complaint and the probe was later transferred to unit-9 of the crime branch.

Dhanuka, an accused in the case, is yet to be arrested.

The police are also investigating another extortion case against Bhagat based on a complaint filed by a businessman, who runs a travel firm. The complainant said he allegedly met Bhagat in 2020 when there was a money-laundering probe was underway against his son. The ED’s case is based on a case by the police’s Economic Offences Wing that alleged the travel firm had defaulted on repayment of loans borrowed from a bank.

Bhagat allegedly promised the complainant that he would help his son in the probe and obtained around ₹9 crore from him. However, the businessman’s son was arrested by the ED and when the complainant asked Bhagat to return his money, he allegedly threatened him. The complainant then approached the Bandra police, and a case was registered against Bhagat. The probe was later handed over to the crime branch.

The ED’s search on Thursday included the premises of a chartered accountant who had allegedly put the complainant in touch with Bhagat.