Mumbai police forms an anti-extortion squad to curb extortion threats in the western region of the city
Mumbai police forms an anti-extortion squad to curbu00a0extortion threats in the western region of the city
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With three people killed in extortion-related shootouts in the past 12 days by resurgent underworld gangs, the Mumbai police have formed a special anti-extortion squad for the western region to protect around 150 builders.
A site where engineer Somraj Devrasi and his supervisor Yogesh Kude, who were working on a construction project in Amboli, Andheri (West), were killed in an extortion-related shootout by the underworld
The decision came following the recent killing of site engineer Somraj Devrasi and his supervisor Yogesh Kude who were working on a construction project being developed by builder Sudhakar Shetty.
Of late, many builders in the western region have been complaining of threat calls from underworld dons.
MiD DAY had earlier reported ('Nobody to stop gun-toting goons' on March 22) how the city's underworld is raising its dreaded head once again in the absence of encounter specialists. But the police believe they can tackle the menace.
Forming a dedicated squad to protect builders may be the first step towards bringing in specialised officers in the police force to deal with these gangsters. Of late, underworld don Ravi Pujari, who is trying to make his presence felt in the extortion business, has started sending out random threats to builders.
So Amitabh Gupta, Additional Commissioner of Police of the Western Region, has embarked on the idea of forming an anti-extortion squad for the safety of realtors.
"We have got the orders from the Commissioner to form an anti-extortion squad for the western region.
There are plans to make a separate anti-extortion cell for this region. Many builders (of western region) have complained that they have received threat calls and therefore we have taken this step," said Gupta.
Since the Mumbai police have no encounter specialists now, the gangsters are trying to make the most of this opportunity.
A senior police officer said, "The encounter specialists knew Mumbai's underworld like the back of their hands. Now, a large number of policemen do not even have the list of gangsters active in their areas, leave alone nabbing or eliminating them."
The formation of the special anti-extortion squad for a specific region might just be a warning for the gangsters who are thinking of ruling the city again.
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