Mira Bhayandar: The presence of mind shown by a 23-year-old woman led to the arrest of two people who posed as cops and tried to extort money from her family on the virtue of threats to implicate them in a false case of running a prostitution racket from their rented flat in Bhayandar.
Notably, one accused identified as- Sudarshan Khandare (33) who is also said to be the mastermind identified as Sudarshan Khandare is a habitual criminal who had been arrested by the police for a similar crime in Bhayandar last year.
Criminal demanded Rs 5 lakh and later settled for Rs 3 lakh
According to the complainant, the duo identified themselves as cops from the local police station and barged into their flat on Thursday evening. They started threatening the family with arrest for operating a prostitution racket and defaming them in the housing society. The duo demanded Rs 5 lakh from the complainant to hush up the matter. After negotiations the amount was scaled down to Rs 3 lakh.
Expressing inability to arrange such a huge amount, the complainant agreed to pledge her mother’s gold ornaments. She was accosted by one of the accused to a jewellery shop in the area. When allowed to go into the shop alone, the complainant pledged her gold but also informed her younger sister about the matter. The complainant’s sister informed the police who reached the flat and arrested Khandare. Unaware about the development, the other accused-Jitendra Patel landed at the building in an auto-rickshaw with the money only to be welcomed by the real policemen.
Apart from other sections in the IPC, the duo has been arrested for impersonating a public servant, extortion, cheating and criminal conspiracy. Khandare was arrested in March-2022 for using women as bait to lure and extort money from well-heeled victims by staging police raids. The duo were remanded to custody after they were produced before the court on Friday. Further investigations were underway.
