MUMBAI: Two corporators from the Mumbai region were arrested on Tuesday for extortion.
While the Kurla police arrested MNS corporator in the BMC
Sanjay Turde (55), along with three accomplices, the
Kharghar police arrested BJP corporator in the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation
Shatrughna Kakade (38) and four of his cronies.
The case against Turde is that he allegedly demanded Rs 50,000 from the contractor of an under-construction toilet in Kurla and when the contractor refused to pay, the corporator’s men “kidnapped” a supervisor from the contractor's office and thrashed him. The supervisor had to be admitted in hospital. Turde’s arrested accomplices are Sachin Sonawane, Swapnil Jagtap and Manish Yelkar.
All accused were produced before the Kurla court which remanded them in custody till August 16. Turde told the court he didn’t demand any money; instead, he called up the complainant, Sachin Date, to “inquire” about a “delay in the construction”.
The police have rubbished Turde’s version. The accused have been booked under the IPC’s sections 364A (kidnapping for ransom), 385 (putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 143 (unlawful assembly).
The case against Navi Mumbai corporator Kakade is that he allegedly assaulted a hotelier after he refused to pay an extortion amount of Rs 50,000 per month for doing business in the corporator's locality. Kakade surrendered at the Kharghar police station on Tuesday morning. His four cronies—Ravindra Kakade, Rakesh Morbekar, Nitesh Kakade and Sandeep Tambe—were arrested from their homes in Belpada.
Imtiaz Shaikh, who owns Hotel Shahi Bawarchi in Sector 4, Belpada, Kharghar, was assaulted by Kakade and 10 others after he refused their demand for “security money”. Kakade deliberately picked up aquarrel with Shaikh over the parking of a vehicle and assaulted him.
The incident occurred around 10pm on Friday. The FIR was registered on Sunday as Shaikh was unable to talk due to a nasal fracture and also due to head and rib injuries. Senior inspector Pradeep Tidar said, “The police sought
custodial remand of the accused, but the Panvel court rejected it and sent all five to magistrate’s custody since no lethal weapon was used in assaulting the victim. Nevertheless, Shaikh injured his nose as Kakade was holding a vehicle key while assaulting him.”
All accused were produced before the Kurla court which remanded them in custody till August 16. 
