Three Mumbai youngsters looking to make a quick buck through extortion caught

One of the accused is a minor who has to appear for SSC exams in March, the other is a college student, and the third a history sheeter

Three youngsters — one of them a 17-year-old — looking to make some easy money have been arrested on charges of extortion in two separate cases in Kalyan.

All three were looking to make some money quickly.

The two accused, who are in police custody, have been identified as Sunny Manoj Solanki, 21, an SYBCom student from a college in Kalyan, and Avesh Riyaz Momin, 23, alias Murgi, who is a history sheeter. The third boy, a minor, is an SSC student whose exams begin on March 2; he has been sent to the a children’s remand home till March 1.

A Vanve, assistant police inspector from Bazar Peth police station, said: “In the first case, Solanki had been threatening the owner of a readymade garments shop, Chintan Sangoi,29, to hand over Rs5 lakh.”

Solanki allegedly claimed that he was the right hand of a local goon, and that he knew everything about Sangoi, including where his shop is and how many people he employs. “He called Sangoi a couple of times. Last Sunday, Solanki used his mobile phone to call him on his landline in the shop and threatened to kill him if he did not hand over Rs5 lakh in 30 minutes. But Sangoi convinced Solanki to wait, saying that his father was out of town and that he would give him the money once he returned,” said Vanve. “He registered a complaint with us on Thursday. We told him to ask Solanki to come to the shop on Friday to collect the money. He came, and we arrested him.”

Vanve said Solanki was trying his hand at extortion as he wanted to live a life of wealth and luxury.

In the second incident, Momin, who already has a criminal record, teamed up with the teenager to extort money from truck and trailer drivers, specifically those from out of Maharashtra heading to the Kalyan APMC market . “They would chat up with the drivers and then suddenly pull out a knife and demand money,” said Vanve.

The victims would part with a couple of thousand rupees. However, one of the truck drivers approached the police a few weeks ago. On Friday afternoon, the duo landed up while the police were patrolling the area. “We saw the two of them talking to a truck driver and caught them. During interrogation, they confessed,” said R Tayade, senior police inspector, Bazar Peth police station.

The duo has extorted money from at least 50 to 60 truck drivers till date. “This had been going on for a few months. Further probe is underway,” Tayade said.