Pimpri-Chinchwad: Pimpri-Chinchwad Police have nabbed five people for demanding extortion from a restaurant owner in Mahalunge MIDC. The arrests were made in the wee hours of Sunday. The five accused demanded money by introducing themselves as police officials from the Pimpri-Chinchwad Police Commissionerate's (PCPC) Crime Branch. The incident happened on Wednesday afternoon.
Alisher Sultan Ali (25, Mahalunge Ingale) complained to the Mahalunge MIDC Police Station on Saturday. Mahalunge Police have arrested Bharat Chandrakant Owhal (29, Hinjawadi), Pandurang Tukaram Sulunkhe (32, Wadgaon Budruk), Kalpesh Sanjay Khairnar (29, Moshi), Krushna aka Kishore Kale (31, Moshi) and Kiran Lokhande (33, Moshi).
They have been booked under the BNS sections 308 (extortion), 3(5) (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 204 (personating a public servant), 333 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 351 (criminal intimidation) and 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace).
According to police reports, on Wednesday afternoon, five accused came to the complainant's Delhi Darbar restaurant in the Mahalunge MIDC area. They pulled down the restaurant's shutter, entered, and asked the customers to leave. They then threatened to beat up the complainant. Accused Pandurang Salunke claimed to be a police officer from the Crime Branch and demanded Rs 2 Lakh in extortion. The complainant said he didn't have such an amount. They then took the complainant to a bank ATM nearby and forced the complainant to withdraw ₹45,000. They took the money and ran away.
Senior Police Inspector Digambar Suryawanshi, in charge of Mahalunge MIDC Police Station, told The Free Press Journal, “We arrested the accused promptly after the complaint was registered. Some of them have a criminal background, but nothing major. We detained them and produced them in court. We have secured their police custody.”
Sr PI Suryawanshi further said that the accused had written ‘Maharashtra Police' on their vehicles and also had the police symbol on their vehicles. “They made people believe they were real police officials by flexing these signs. Investigation into the matter is ongoing,” said Sr PI Suryawanshi.
