Producer arrested for asking gangster to make threat calls to director, says Mumbai Police

During the course of investigation, the police found that the calls were being made at the behest of Tyagi. Express photo by Nirmal Harindran

THE MUMBAI Police crime branch on Tuesday arrested a Delhi-based man for allegedly asking a fugitive gangster to make threat calls to a Bollywood director to settle a dispute over the production of a movie. The director, whose multi-starrer thriller is up for release soon, then approached the Anti Extortion Cell of the Mumbai Police crime branch following which a case was registered.

An officer linked to the probe said that on Tuesday they arrested Satyendra Tyagi, who at one point was in the process of producing a movie with the director. Due to some reasons the movie could not be completed following which the director moved onto another project. Tyagi, who is based out of Delhi, allegedly got a fugitive underworld gangster to make calls to the director. The gangster threatened the director to complete the movie on which he was collaborating with Tyagi, a senior officer said.

“Tyagi was produced before the court and has been remanded in police custody till March 12. We want to interrogate him about various aspects of the crime. We want to know how he got in touch with the fugitive gangster and how much money exchanged hands,” an officer linked to the probe said. He added that the gangster had made several threat calls to the director between September to December last year.

“Tyagi had invested money in the project. He maintained that he had made huge losses owing to the movie not being completed. He blamed the director for this who was not willing to complete the movie,” an officer added. The officer said that initially the director was hesitant in giving a complaint. However he was later convinced to file an official complaint following which officer of the Anti Extortion Cell began probe in the matter.

During the course of investigation, the police found that the calls were being made at the behest of Tyagi. “Based on availability of evidence, we registered an FIR against Tyagi. More arrests are likely in the case,” an officer said.

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