Man claiming to have ‘contacts in police department’ held for extortion

THANE: A man, who reportedly extorted money from a Kurla resident and his friend, by threatening to use his contacts in the police department to cancel the latter’s sanction to procure a licensed firearm, was arrested.

The anti-extortion cell of the Thane police arrested Santosh Jagtap, a resident of Vasant Vihar, while he was accepting the second installment of Rs 3 lakh out of the total Rs 5 lakh, which was decided between him and the complainant for not interfering in the process of procuring the firearm.

The police said that the complainant, a resident of Kurla had accompanied his friend, a developer, who needed a licensed firearm following a threat. The duo, around three months ago, had approached the Thane police and moved an application, which was subsequently rejected.

The developer, who was desperately in need of an arms licence then approached the higher authorities and got it sanctioned, said a police officer.

The police said that Jagtap meanwhile approached the victim outside the vicinity of the police commissionerate’s office in Thane and flaunted his contacts with the commissioner as well as other senior police officials.

“Jagtap threatened to get his issued license cancelled if he failed to pay him Rs 5 lakh. He also claimed that he was well connected with top cops,” said a police official.

The accused has been remanded to police custody and further probe is on.

Kurla resident, Santosh Jagtap, threatened to get the complainant’s friend’s issued firearms license cancelled if he failed to pay him Rs 5 lakh. He also claimed that he was well connected with top police officials