2 men held for extortion from Lodha firm over Goa township

Mumbai: Two Goa residents were arrested by the Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) of the Mumbai Crime branch for allegedly extorting around ₹41 lakh from The House of Abhinandan Lodha (HoABL) by threatening company officials over its ‘One Goa’ township project in North Goa, after having initially demanded ₹6 crore from the real estate developer

Mumbai: Two Goa residents were arrested by the Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) of the Mumbai Crime branch for allegedly extorting around ₹41 lakh from The House of Abhinandan Lodha (HoABL) by threatening company officials over its ‘One Goa’ township project in North Goa, after having initially demanded ₹6 crore from the real estate developer.

The accused have been identified as Siddhesh Jana Tari and Pritesh Salgaonkar, both from Karapur village in Bicholim taluka, where the project is being developed.

The complaint was filed by Bhushan Patil, a liaisoning officer with HoABL. Police said the company’s head office is in Mahalaxmi and that it had obtained the required permissions for the project, with local agents helping secure the remaining approvals.

According to police, the two men entered the project site in April and threatened company officials. They allegedly claimed that the company was acting against the interests of local residents and threatened to stop the work.

When officials told them that the project had the necessary permissions, the accused allegedly threatened to file RTI applications and question the role of gram panchayat members supporting the development.

“When they were asked by the company executives to take legal recourse. They told them don’t teach us what is legal or illegal,” said the police officer.

When asked what they wanted, the accused allegedly demanded ₹3 crore each.

Following repeated threats, the company paid ₹34 lakh to Tari and ₹7 lakh to Salgaonkar in May, police said, adding that the accused then sought more money.

“They told the company more money was required as there were lot of protestors and everybody need to be paid,” said the police officer.

The case came to light after a threatening call to the company’s Mumbai office was recorded, leading to the registration of an FIR on Thursday under sections 308 (extortion), 351 (criminal intimidation) and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

The AEC traced the two accused to Karapur and arrested them on Sunday.

The arrests come against the backdrop of opposition to the ‘One Goa’ project from some villagers and activists. A group protested against the project in July, alleging that the development would threaten the village’s ecology, water security and agricultural heritage.

The protesters have claimed that the township is spread over more than 53 hectares and that its first phase proposes 1,388 luxury villa plots, a five-star hotel and an artificial beach. They have opposed the proposed use of agricultural and hilltop land for the development.

Abhinandan Lodha, whose company is developing the project, is the son of Maharashtra minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha.