Pune: Four held for extortion of Rs 5.89 lakh from gynaecologist

PUNE: The anti-extortion cell of the city’s crime branch arrested four persons on Wednesday afternoon, including a police constable, for extorting Rs5.89 lakh from a Hadapsar-based medical practitioner.
The persons who identified themselves as police personnel, issued threats to file a fabricated complaint against the complainant on Sunday. The 48-year-old gynaecologist approached the Hadapsar police on Tuesday.
The arrested persons are Pradeep Dnyandev Phasage (37), Kailash Bhanudas Awachite (38), Sameer Jagannath Thorat and a 29-year-old woman. “Thorat is a constable and is posted with the police headquarters at Shivajinagar,” said crime branch senior inspector Rajendra Mohite.
Mohite told TOI, “The four persons sent the woman to the doctor’s clinic where she created a scene. The others then barged in and threatened to file a complaint about the doctor’s involvement in sex determination tests. They then took him to Dive Ghat area. where they demanded Rs10 lakh as extortion but settled for Rs7 lakh.” The four persons then took him to a flat in Hadapsar and kept him there till Sunday evening, Mohite said.
“On Monday the man handed over Rs5.89 lakh to them,” he added.