Mumbai Crime Branch’s Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) has arrested six individuals for allegedly extorting ₹55 lakh from an engineer working with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The accused had posed as members of a charitable trust and threatened to expose the victim by claiming his educational certificates were fake. They demanded money to suppress the issue from reaching the media.
According to sources in the Crime Branch, a 40-year-old complainant received a call from a man named Shekhar Sakpal. Sakpal introduced himself as a representative of Abhinav Charitable Trust from Goregaon. He informed the complainant that a complaint had been lodged with the trust, alleging that the complainant’s degree was fake. Sakpal summoned the complainant to his office within 10 days to discuss the matter further.
When the complainant inquired about the source of the complaint, Sakpal refused to provide any details and threatened action if the complainant did not meet him within the specified timeframe.
The complainant, troubled by the call, reached out to his acquaintance, Sukhlal Garg, a professional astrologer, for advice. He asked Garg if he knew anyone in Goregaon who could help. Garg then introduced him to Pratap Chokhandre, aka Bablu (49), who in turn connected him with Abhayraj Patel, aka Rajbhai (48). Patel assured the complainant that he would arrange a meeting with the people from Abhinav Charitable Trust.
The next day, Patel took the complainant to the trust’s office, where he met Shekhar Sakpal (33) and Santosh Pujari, aka Raju Nair (45). Several other individuals were present at the time. Sakpal and Pujari told the complainant that they had all his personal details and could tarnish his reputation by making the information public through the media.
Concerned, the complainant discussed the situation with Garg, who advised him to comply with the demands of the trust members, suggesting that paying a token amount might silence them.
The complainant subsequently paid ₹2 lakh to Sakpal and Pujari. Following this, there were several phone conversations between the complainant and the accused, during which the complainant pleaded with them to reduce their demands. On August 21, Pujari summoned the complainant to a hotel in Marine Drive and advised him to settle the matter by paying the required amount in one go.
On September 21, Pujari called the complainant again and demanded ₹3 lakh, threatening to ruin his reputation if the money wasn’t paid. At this point, the complainant approached Crime Branch Inspector Arun Thorat and narrated the entire ordeal. With the approval of Joint Commissioner Lakhmi Gautam, the Crime Branch set up a plan to catch the culprits.
The Crime Branch laid a trap to catch the accused red-handed. The complainant was instructed to bring the money to the Abhinav Charitable Trust office. As soon as the complainant handed over the ₹3 lakh, Santosh Pujari was arrested on the spot. Subsequently, the other accused were also taken into custody.
On Tuesday, the six arrested individuals were presented before the Esplanade Court, where the court ordered police custody for all of them. In court, the police inspector revealed that the accused had threatened the complainant by claiming they had destroyed the careers of several officers and would do the same to him if he failed to pay the extortion amount.
In this case, the police have arrested a total of six accused, whose names are Santosh Pujari alias Raju Nair, Ashish Pandey, Shekhar Sakpal, Pratap Chokhander, Abhayraj Patel and Rafique Mulani.