Infrastructure firm's ex-executive held for blackmail, Rs 3.5 crore extortion

THANE: The former executive of an infrastructure company was arrested by the anti-extortion cell of Thane police for allegedly blackmailing and extorting Rs 3.5 crore from the firm's directors.
Kaweshwar Adhau (42) was with Pratibha Industries from November 2007 to October 2014 but invited the senior management's ire for causing a loss to the firm, a complaint by managing director Manohar Kulkarni stated. He said that between 2009-14, the company bagged a Rs 406 crore Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) contract for laying a water pipeline from Tansa lake to Shahapur.

"Adhau took some unilateral decisions, keeping the senior management and directors in the dark, resulting in financial loss to the company. He was transferred to Kalyan but as he was creating nuisance there too, he was again shifted to a project in Rajasthan. Due to his reluctance to move there, he was forced to quit in October 2014," said a police officer.

As he was enraged with his sacking, he started acting against the company and sought information about the civic projects using RTI. He resorted to complaints to various authorities, which adversely affected the flow of finance to the company, inspector Rajkumar Kothmire said.

"He then struck a deal with the management and demanded Rs 5 crore to withdraw the complaints, and from time-to-time took Rs 3.5 crore and started pestering the directors for the balance to take the complaints back," the officer said.

He even allegedly assaulted former colleagues who tried to pacify him and threatened to kill them near a mall in Thane. "He took the money from time-to-time since January 2016 and started demanding more," the officer said.

A case was registered under sections 384, 385, 386 and 387 of Indian Penal Code with Vartak Nagar police on Friday and a further probe is being carried out.