A senior citizen was arrested for extortion by the Thane police’s Anti Extortion Cell (AEC) on Saturday. The 72-year-old self-proclaimed RTI activist had allegedly demanded Rs 3 lakh from a builder in Thane city.
Based on the complaint filed by the builder, the Thane city police AEC laid a trap and caught the accused, Mukesh Bechardas Kanakiya, while accepting Rs 3.11 lakh. The complainant, Kantilal Bouva, had fetched a contract for redeveloping a housing society in Thane.
Kanakiya had obtained information from the civic authorities about the redevelopment work. He submitted applications stating that the construction was illegal and demanded action against Bouva. Later, he threatened the builder and allegedly demanded Rs 10 lakh to withdraw the complaints filed with the Thane Municipal Corporation. “He had threatened the complainant on the pretext of having his construction work stopped.
After negotiations, the accused settled for Rs 3.6 lakh,” said Thane police AEC senior inspector Maloji Shinde. The police later carried out searches at Kanakiya’s residence and seized Rs 4 lakh cash and some RTI applications. The Thane police’s AEC is further probing his involvement in other extortion cases.
