‘I’ll tell your family’: Mumbai man demands ₹5 lakh from businessman over alleged affair, held

Gamdevi police arrested a Ghatkopar resident for threatening to expose a businessman’s alleged affair unless he paid ₹5 lakh.

MUMBAI : A 36-year-old Ghatkopar resident has been arrested for extorting money from a 46-year-old sanitaryware importer by threatening to “go public” with information about an alleged extra-marital relationship.

Gamdevi police said the accused, Vijay Birhambhole, had earlier been arrested by the Ghatkopar police for demanding ransom for a missing child. (PTI) (Representative image)

Gamdevi police said the accused, Vijay Birhambhole, had earlier been arrested by the Ghatkopar police for demanding ransom for a missing child, whose posters had been pasted in public places. Birhambhole had leveraged the situation to extract money from the vulnerable family, police said.

On this occasion, Birhambhole had demanded ₹5 lakh from the businessman, who lives on Bhulabhai Desai Road. Police said the woman in question was a 25-year-old the businessman was acquainted with due to his work. “He has known a 25-year-old woman for 18 months,” said a police officer.

Birhambhole sent the businessmen a text message on September 9, saying he would “tell his family and residents of his building about his relationship with the woman” if he didn’t cough up ₹5 lakh. “If you complain to the police, they will track me down and arrest me but my team will share the information with the people,” he said in his message.

To scare him further, Birhambhole reached out to his wife and mother. He didn’t speak with them but shared a screenshot of his call history with the businessman, said the police officer. He also shared some phone numbers associated with the businessman, which got him even more worried.

The businessman negotiated with Birhambhole, who said he could pay ₹3 lakhs now and ₹2 lakh after the Ganesh festival. He then coughed up ₹15,000. Before matters went any further, the businessman approached the police.

Police traced Birhambhole through the phone number he had shared.