Four try to extort ₹10 lakh from civil contractor, booked

Police in Mumbai have booked four individuals for attempting to extort ₹10 lakh from a civil contractor by threatening to report him to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and halt his renovation work on a hotel. The accused individuals allegedly offered the contractor protection from BMC officials in exchange for the money. The police have sent notices to the accused and will make arrests after further inquiry.

MUMBAI: The police booked four persons on Monday night for allegedly trying to extort ₹10 lakh from a civil contractor, by threatening to report him to the concerned department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and to get his work of renovating a hotel called China Town in Vikroli stopped.

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Apart from threatening the contractor, the quartet also lured him with protection from the civic officials, if he met their demand for money.

The four accused are Sagar Kothari, Danish Khan, Shafiq Shaikh, and Imran Shaikh.

According to the police, the complainant, Rafiq Khan, 44, is a civil contractor by profession and lives in Parksite along with his family. Khan had taken a contract to renovate hotel China Town in Vikhroli and the renovation work has been going on for three months. The accused Sagar Kothari was allegedly demanding ₹10 lakh, by threatening him that it was unauthorised work and that if he paid him, he would get the matter settled by BMC officials.

After Khan refused to pay, Kothari lodged a written complaint with the ‘N ward’ office of BMC at Ghatkopar about the unauthorized construction in the hotel China Town. Khan learnt that another person, Danish Khan, an acquaintance of Kothari had also filed a similar complaint. Khan then called Danish and enquired about Sagar, but he was directed to speak with Shafiq Shaikh. Khan then called Shafiq Shaikh who said Sagar Kothari was demanding ₹10 lakh to withdraw the complaint, said a police officer.

The victim recorded the conversations and said that he could not pay such a huge amount. The accused then reduced the extortion money and said that they could settle the issue in ₹2 lakh. In between, the BMC demolished the second floor of the hotel in November.

After a few days, the construction work was started again, and the complainant called Sagar, who agreed to meet him in the ward office. All the suspects agreed to withdraw their complaint if they were paid and Shafik allegedly visited the complainant’s house and demanded money and threatened that legal action would be taken against him, if he failed to meet his demands, said a police officer.

Senior inspector Santosh Ghatekar of the Parksite police station said, “The investigation is going on and notices have been sent to them. Two people have been called for an inquiry. We will arrest them once the inquiry is a complaint.”