Mumbai: Two held for extortion and abduction bid by posing as anti-corruption officials

Malad Police booked three men, of which two have been arrested for impersonating an anti-corruption official and making an extortion bid of Rs 1 lakh. The accused men had allegedly abducted an employee on the pretext of initiating action and penalising him, following which they made a demand. The incident occurred on Monday. While police have arrested two men, search for another accused is underway.

According to police sources, the complainant, Madhukar Bhosale, 65, who is a wholesale dealer of tobacco products in Malad (West), was approached by two men in his establishment on April 5. The men identified themselves as officials of the Anti-Corruption Department with a fake identity card and asked an employee to accompany them, as they were initiating action against him for the illegal sale of tobacco.

Police said that, after a while, the accused men stopped the vehicle and demanded a sum of Rs 1 lakh if he wanted to 'settle' the matter without being penalised. Moreover, the accused also threatened him with a sharp object. The latter said he will talk to the owner. When the employee got in touch with Bhosale, he immediately approached Malad Police and lodged a complaint.

Acting on this information, the police told Bhosale to call the accused to accept the money and laid a trap, wherein two accused -Udaykumar Parekh, 40, and Mahesh Soni, 43- were arrested. Primary probe revealed that the accused are social workers, who could have committed similar offenses in the past. All the accused were booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for impersonation and extortion, amongst other charges. Meanwhile, search for their accomplice Shahnawaz Khan is underway.