Mumbai: Four clean-up Marshall arrested on extortion charges

MIDC police booked five clean-up marshals and arrested four of them for demanding ₹1 lakh extortion from a private company

MIDC police booked five clean-up marshals and arrested four of them for demanding ₹1 lakh extortion from a private company. They claimed the firm had not followed Covid-19 protocol and the money is to not take action against them.

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Police said one of the five accused first extorted ₹20,000 on April 21. But on Friday, four accused again visited the company and demanded more money saying the firm owner was not wearing mask.

The company owner informed the police and the four were arrested.

“The private agency the five accused belonged to has been authorised by Mumbai civic body for collecting fines from those not wearing mask and spitting in public places. But their jurisdiction was limited to penalising pedestrians or those violating rules in public places. They were not authorised to enter any private premises or company and take action. Hence they have been booked under extortion charges,” said deputy commissioner of police (zone 10) Maheshwar Reddy.