Mumbai: The main accused held in an extortion bid of a television producer on Monday had earlier approached the latter for a partnership since his dues were pending. When the partnership plan was rejected by the producer, the accused, Shashank Soman, nephew of a renowned Congress politician, hatched a conspiracy to extort money and take revenge from the victim. The arrested trio was produced in the court on Tuesday and remanded in police custody.
According to police sources, the complainant, Pradeep Kumar, owner of Shaika Films, received several extortion calls in the first week of May when the extortionist demanded Rs 25 lakh. Soman further threatened Kumar of dire consequences if he alerted the police. At first, Kumar ignored the calls, but when the accused threatened Kumar with life, he approached the police and registered a complaint.
A parallel investigation was started by the crime branch unit 11 and traced the number on Monday which helped the police to find his location and arrested him from his Gorai residence. Soman later revealed names of his accomplices, who were arrested from Evershine Nagar at Malad, on Monday. During the interrogation, Soman said he had earlier worked as a cameraman with Kumar and had some uncleared dues.
In April, Soman approached Kumar for a partnership, which he refused. Soman evidently could not take this rejection and he hatched a plan to take revenge and get his money through extortion. Soman then contacted two of his friends, Rohan Redekar (27) and Bhupeshkumar Prasad (36) to help him make the calls and recover his money.
However, the plan was foiled when the police traced the number and located Soman through the Internet Protocol address. The police arrested the trio on Monday and booked them under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for extortion (section 383) and common intention (section 34).
