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Seven, including MNS worker and journalist, booked for extortion
The complainant’s family home was undergoing renovation work when a worker had died on the site. A case of causing death due to negligence was registered in the matter against the labour contractor.
Five men, including a Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) worker, were arrested by the city police for extorting a 36-year-old resident of Hadapsar. The police are on the lookout for two others in the case, including a journalist who works with a local Marathi daily.
The complainant’s family home was undergoing renovation work when a worker had died on the site. A case of causing death due to negligence was registered in the matter against the labour contractor. “After the incident, the main accused, who is yet to be arrested, and others, started asking for money in order to keep the incident out of the news. Later, the MNS worker who was arrested approached the Pune municipal corporation (PMC) and filed a complaint. The PMC officials came to the complainant’s house and enquired about the incident,” said assistant police inspector AA Shete of Wanowrie police station who is investigating the case.
“They asked for Rs 5,00,000 to take the complaint back. When it got too much, he (the complainant) came to the police. We set a trap and arrested them,” added Shete.
The extortion happened between September 17 and October 10 when the five, along with two others, asked for Rs 5,00,000 in exchange for keeping mum about the incident.
The arrested men were identified as MNS worker Majid alias Wasim Ameen Shaikh, 33; Farukh Yusuf Khan, 24, both residents of Ghorpadi peth; Shoaib Sultan Mujahid, 35; Parvez Iqbal Patvekar, 28, both residents of Ganesh peth and Faizal Anwar Shaikh, 23, a resident of Bhagyodaynagar in Kondhwa.
A case under Sections 384 (punishment for extortion), 385 (putting “person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian penal code was registered against seven people at the Wanowrie police station.
