2 ‘journalists’ arrested for extortion

Two men were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly posing as reporters and trying to extort money from the owner of a mineral water company.

Two men were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly posing as reporters and trying to extort money from the owner of a mineral water company.

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The accused, Manoj Sonkar and Suryaprakash Dubey, had recently called up Sandeep Dani, the owner of the Mulund-based mineral water company, saying they had found worms in a bottle, the police said.

The duo had posed as reporters and threatened to the company’s substandard packaged water unless Dani paid them Rs 1 lakh. The duo later reduced the amount to Rs 30,000 and called Dani to a location in Ghatkopar.

The police arrested the two when they came to collect the money. They said one of Dani’s employees, Ashok Harname, was also involved.

“We have recovered the ID card of a Hindi daily, News Express, from Sonkar and an India News visiting card from Dubey. We are checking whether these media houses exist,” said Police Sub-Inspector S. Tawre of Park Site police station.