A cafe owner who allegedly ran various illegal businesses was arrested recently on charges of extortion by the Malwani police. Police sources said the accused used to arrive in a BMW to collect weekly bribes from hawkers and pavement vendors near his establishment.

In what is reminiscent of a Bollywood movie, but is real life, if a person refused to pay up, his henchmen would beat them up and threaten to shoot them in the head. He would allegedly forcibly take money from people’s pockets and if he visited shops or stalls, he would physically take money from cash boxes. Paralysed by fear, no one had complained until now. The complaint was then lodged by a person weary of making payments. The police are encouraging others to come forward.