Five held for bid to extort ₹11 crore from builder in Bandra

The accused, arrested by the anti-extortion cell of the crime branch, are Daniel Steven, Ethel Steven, Nazeer Shaikh, Abdulla Khan and Remi Fernandes

MUMBAI: Five people have been arrested for attempting to extort money from a builder seeking to redevelop a prime plot in Bandra. The alleged extortionists used gangster Chhota Rajan’s name to intimidate the builder and extort ₹11 crore from him in exchange for allowing him to redevelop the property.

Five held for bid to extort ₹11 crore from builder in Bandra

The accused, arrested by the anti-extortion cell of the crime branch, are Daniel Steven, Ethel Steven, Nazeer Shaikh, Abdulla Khan and Remi Fernandes. Two of them live on the property and had faced off with the builder over vacating their home.

Police said the Archdiocese of Bombay owns the plot and the Steven family live in a house on the land. “The Bombay High Court has ruled that the Steven family does not have any right to the land and only has possession of the house. The BMC had declared the structure dangerous. However, the family had demanded ₹7 crore from the builder, to vacate the premises,” said a police officer.

At one point, another developer, Rajvinder Singh of Rajlakshmi Companies had written to the archdiocese, claiming there was an agreement between him and the Steven family and the agreement with Diljay Properties Developer should therefore be cancelled.

Singh initially demanded ₹30 crore and allegedly threatened security guards at the site. Later, the Chembur-based company was found to be allegedly linked to the Chhota Rajan gang.

“We arrested the accused when they came to collect ₹25 lakh, the first installment. The sum had been negotiated down to ₹11 crore,” said the police officer.

The land was originally leased to the archdiocese in 1883 and converted to freehold in December 2025 after a premium of ₹13.32 crore was paid. The charity commissioner approved redevelopment through Diljay Property Developers for ₹30 crore.

The Steven family has alleged they have partial tenancy rights over the property. They allege that the land, worth ₹250 crore, was handed over to the developer without consulting the residents. They claim the building was reclassified from a repairable C-3 structure to a dangerous C-1 structure.