Swift action helps Mumbai Police foil two extortion rackets

In two separate incidents the police have arrested four people for attempting to extort money by issuing threats In Goregaon the police nabbed a 26yearold man who posed as a Lawrence Bishnoi gang member and demanded Rs 25 lakh cash and 1 kg of gold from a businessman after losing money in online gambling In another case the Charkop police arrested three people including two women for demanding Rs 2 lakh from a ration shop owner after falsely accusing him of stocking stolen ration suppliesTargeted by employeeAccording to the police Tejas Shelar 26 mdash the accused in the first case mdash worked at the complainantrsquos chemical factory in Goregaon West for more than two years Having lost around Rs 35 lakh in online gambling he allegedly resorted to extortion in a bid to recover his lossesThe complainant a 58yearold businessman with offices in Goregaon approached the police after receiving multiple threatening calls on August 26 In his statement he said that he initially received three calls which he ignored as he was busy at work When he finally answered the caller spoke in a language he couldnt understand and then disconnected The same number called again twice but he cut the callsLater when he received the call a second time the caller spoke in Hindi and introduced himself as a member of the Bishnoi gang The caller allegedly said ldquoYou live in Juhu your office is in Goregaon and your factory is in Vasai We know everything about you We have received Rs 25 lakh and 1 kg of gold to kill you We also know you have two daughtershellip one has just reached Goregaon Four shooters have already been sent to your office Vasai factory and Juhu residencerdquoThe businessman said he repeatedly asked the caller to identify himself and explain the reason for targeting him but the caller only claimed he had ldquoreceived orders from aboverdquo and kept issuing threats The caller demanded Rs 25 lakh and 1 kg of gold to spare him and his family Following his complaint Goregaon police registered a case and launched an investigation that led to Shelarrsquos arrestActing under the guidance of DCP Zone XI Sandeep Jadhav and Senior Inspector Suryakant Kharat detection officers PSI Shivaji Savle PSI Vijendra Kale and their team from Goregaon police station traced and arrested Shelar from Kansai village in Ambarnath During questioning police learnt that Shelar was addicted to online gaming He had blown up all his savings and salary on gambling hoping for a big win but instead fell into debtldquoShelar knew his employer was a calm person He assumed that if he threatened him in the name of the Bishnoi gang the businessman would pay uprdquo said an officer from Goregaon police ldquoWe have arrested Shelar and he is currently in police custody Further investigation is underwayrdquo said Senior Inspector Suryakant KharatDrama in CharkopThe Charkop police arrested Tarannum Khan Sanjani Padwal and Umar Lukman Khan for allegedly demanding Rs 2 lakh from a ration shop owner in the Charkop area A case was registered at Charkop police station following the complaintThe complainant Nitesh Manyu Jaiswal 37 a resident of Kandivli West has been running Anand Provision Store a ration shop in Bandarpakhadi village Around 11 am on August 26 a vehicle carrying 73 sacks of wheat from the Food Corporation of India FCI Godown in Borivli East arrived at the shop Assistant Ration Distribution Officer Shailendra Kantilal Mayavanshi was present to supervise the unloading along with Jaiswal and his brother AbhishekAround 1130 am two women and a man approached the shop accusing Jaiswal of stocking ldquostolen goodsrdquo They identified themselves as journalists mdash Tarannum Khan Sanjani Padwal and Umar Khan mdash and threatened to file a police complaint Despite being told by the ration officer that the goods were governmentsupplied the trio allegedly continued to argueAccording to the FIR the accused later took Jaiswal to the market area and demanded Rs 2 lakh to ldquosettle the matterrdquo and not go to the police When Jaiswal and his brother refused Umar Khan allegedly threatened to falsely implicate them in a ldquochild abuserdquo caseldquoThe ration distribution inspector was present during the commotion and confirmed the wheat sacks were government supply Many local people had also gathered and thus the matter came to the policersquos attention Based on Jaiswalrsquos complaint the trio was booked under the relevant sections for extortion served notice and then releasedrdquo said an officer