Thane: Former KDMC corporator, 4 others booked in extortion case

Former corporator of Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) along with four others have been booked by the police for demanding extortion from a woman. The woman claims the accused demanded a bribe for putting up a stall at the weekly market. However, the former corporators claim the allegation to be baseless.

The police said the complainant was identified as Dipali Jadhav (42), who has a cloth selling business and is a resident of Adivali, Dhokali.

The police have registered a case against Sanjay Chalitar Singh (40), Naresh, Rohan, Mama and Kunal Patil the former corporator of KDMC.

The police said the extortion took place in-between 7:30 pm to 10 pm on the roadside near Rajaram Patil Nagar, Adivali, Dhokali in Kalyan east.

"Every week on Friday, a weekly market is staged in the Adivali area. Seeing the increasing number of Covid-19 cases, most of the markets are closed. Then too, most of the stall owners place a shop on the side. Dipali the complainant claims extortion money was taken to put up a stall. She claimed that two officials including Singh and Naresh came to her shop and demanded money and after Dipali refused to give them cash due to no business, they started threatening her. She claims they brought few people from the office of former corporator Kunal Patil," said a police officer.

A case has been registered at Manpada police station in Dombivli under sections 384, 385, 427, 504, 506 and 34 of the Indian penal code.

Shekhar Badge, senior police inspector, Manpada police station confirmed that an extortion case has been registered and the investigation is going on.

The police team have arrested Singh and are further investigating the matter. However, Kunal Patil, the former corporator from Dombivli denied the allegation claiming it to be baseless allegations as he was not aware of any such demands.