Palghar: One more arrested in Vasai developer attack case

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Police have arrested one more person in connection with the attack on a developer at Vasai in Maharashtra's Palghar district that occurred two months ago, an official told news agency PTI on Saturday.

Officials of the crime unit-III of Virar of the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar police arrested 38-year-old Girish Nayar, from Goregaon in Mumbai on Thursday, taking the number of persons held in the case so far to three, he said.

The main accused in the case is on the run, the official told PTI.

"Wielding swords, four persons had attacked the developer and his staffers at his office in Juchandra in Vasai taluka on June 21 this year seeking extortion money from him," senior inspector Pramod Badakh of the crime unit-III told PTI.

Naigaon police had registered a case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 307 (attempt to murder), 386 (extortion), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt), 452 (house-trespass), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 504 (intentional insult), 506 (criminal Intimidation), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), under the Arms Act and the Mumbai Police Act.

The police have now also invoked the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the accused and launched a search for the main accused, the official told PTI.

In another incident, some burglars broke open an automated teller machine (ATM) of a nationalised bank near Palghar town of Maharashtra in the wee hours of Saturday, but had to return empty-handed as there was no cash inside, police told PTI.

The incident occurred at Maswan village in Palghar taluka, they said.

"Some miscreants stormed into an ATM kiosk of a nationalised bank around 2 am. They not only broke open the ATM box, but also damaged the CCTV camera installed inside the room," an official of Manor police station told PTI.

"However, they could not take anything from the ATM as there was no cash kept inside it as the machine was undergoing some repair work," he said.

A case has been registered against the accused, who are yet to be identified, he added.

Meanwhile, police have seized mephedrone or MD drug worth Rs 10.50 lakh from a 39-year-old man in Navi Mumbai, after which he was arrested, an official said on Saturday.

(With inputs from PTI)