Sacked Driver's Rs 1-Crore Extortion Plot Foiled; Two I-T Officials Held
A dismissed driver allegedly led a Rs 1-crore extortion bid in Mumbai, aided by two serving Income Tax officials. Ten people have been arrested.
A salary dispute in Mumbai escalated into an alleged Rs 1-crore extortion attempt, with police arresting ten people, including two serving Income Tax Department officials, for posing as government officers to threaten a businessman and his staff.
According to police, the plot was set in motion by Santosh Uday Khopatkar, 37, who had been dismissed from his job as a driver without six months' salary. The amount he was owed by his former employer, Rajkumar Kandasami, 49, was not specified. Holding a grudge, Khopatkar allegedly used information he had about Kandasami to hatch a criminal conspiracy with six men and three women he knew.
The group is accused of forcing its way into Kandasami's office, posing as Income Tax and Crime Branch officials and displaying fake identity cards. They allegedly confined Kandasami and his wife in the office, seized the mobile phones of the couple and ten employees, and prevented anyone from leaving. Police said the accused threatened legal action through the Income Tax Department, hurled abuses, and demanded Rs 1 crore to call off the action.
It was not immediately clear whether any money was paid or promised. Kandasami subsequently filed a complaint, and a case was registered under sections related to criminal conspiracy, impersonating a public servant, trespass, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation and extortion.
Using technical investigation, police arrested Khopatkar along with Vinay Ramesh More, 37; Prem Kisan Sabnani, 50; Pragya Harish Main, 27; Reshma Shamrao Warang, 41; and Sabina Hafiz Shaikh, 48.
Questioning the six revealed that two more members of the group were employed in the Income Tax Department itself. On Thursday, the Andheri police traced and arrested income tax inspector Suresh Mahavirprasad Mishra, 57, and tax assistant Sunil Manohar Gore, 59. Also arrested were Jitendra Namdev More alias Jitu, 52, and Ashok Vithoba Shinde, 57.