E-Paper
Journo booked for alleged extortion of ₹5 lakh from doc running Pimpri Covid centre
PUNE A 43-year-old journalist working at a local Marathi newspaper has been booked by the Pimpri-Chinchwad police on Thursday, for allegedly accepting ₹5 lakh from a doctor who worked at the Covid centre run by the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) at the Auto Cluster in Pimpri
PUNE A 43-year-old journalist working at a local Marathi newspaper has been booked by the Pimpri-Chinchwad police on Thursday, for allegedly accepting ₹5 lakh from a doctor who worked at the Covid centre run by the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) at the Auto Cluster in Pimpri.
The man’s identity is being withheld.
A complaint in the matter was lodged by Dr Amol Ashok Holkunde (38), a resident of Sparsh Hospital in Somatne, Maval.
The accused allegedly threatened the doctor and his colleagues with negative news articles against the working of the Covid centre. The stories, he threatened, would be used to get the contract of the Dr Holkunde’s hospital with the PCMC to run the Covid centre cancelled.
The administrator of the centre, Vinod Adaskar, has text and WhatsApp messages from November 27, 2020 and December 8, 2020, allegedly from the accused, that he has started raising complaints about the Covid centre and would ensure bills of the hospital do not get cleared.
On February 23, the officials of Sparsh hospital allegedly paid ₹2 lakh in cash and moved ₹3 lakh to Bhakre’s private account through an NEFT transfer, according to the complaint.
Sub inspector Sawan Kumar Waghmare of Pimpri police station, who is investigating the case, said, “We have not yet arrested the person. He is a reporter at a Marathi daily newspaper. We are not sure why the doctors did not come forward earlier. We are investigating the claims.”
A case under Section 384 (extortion) of Indian Penal Code was registered at Pimpri police station.
