13 workers of private firm booked under MCOCA for extortion

Pune: The Ranjangaon MIDC police on Wednesday booked 13 workers of a private company  in Ranjangaon MIDC under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), as they had formed a workers union and were demanding Rs 10,000 from other fellow workers to join the union. Senior Police Inspector Manoj Yadav of MIDC police station said the complaint against the 13 accused persons was received in the month of April, following which the Ranjangaon MIDC police approached the Pune Rural Superintendent to charge the accused under the MCOCA case.

The union, named ‘Hind Kamgar Sanghatana’ was formed by one Kailas Kadam. After forming the union, he started threatening other workers of the company to join the union. The accused workers then tried to extort Rs 10,000 from other workers under the guise of membership. “After some workers approached us with complaints, we proceeded with filing the case against the accused persons,” added Yadav.

The report to add additional sections of MCOCA in the case was submitted by Ranjangoan MIDC police to Special Inspector General of Police Suhas Warke, which was accepted by him and additional charges of MCOCA were slapped on the accused.

Police Inspector Yadav said the rural police will not tolerate such acts under their jurisdiction. “Workers’ unions should not try to harass other workers or try to extort money from them. We have enough laws to tackle such situations,” added Yadav.