Thane journo booked in extortion case

THANE: Naupada police registered an extortion case against one local journalist allegedly for demanding ransom from an Assistant Municipal Commissioner of Thane Municipal Corporation.
The accused, Binu Varghese was earlier booked along in the infamous case of extortion in which former Thane and Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh and gangster Ravi Pujari are accused along with 25 others. The other accused named in the case if Yogesh Mundada.
This is the third case of extortion registered against the accused Varghese, who also claims to be social worker and flaunts good contacts with senior police officers in the state.
According to the complaint by the TMC officer Mahesh Aher, Varghese introduced himself as a "Journalist" and made a demand of Rs 10 lakhs for the payment of the new flat he had purchased .
The civic officer expressed his inability to make the payment but the accused repeatedly several times made the demand for the money. The accused threatened him of dire consequences including defaming him if he did not make the payment and also started blackmailing him, the complaint stated.
He further sent him a complaint purported to have been made against Aher to the Chief Minister and others regarding the so called fake certificate of his in getting the employment, the complaint with the police stated.
To buy his silence Varghese demanded Rs.15 lakhs but the official expressed his inability to make any payment and did not pay any heed to him. It was in July 2021 when the victim met him the accused again made a demand for the money. Finally, the victim who had kept the money for his wife’s medical treatment made a payment of Rs. 1 lakh to him to get rid of him, the complaint stated with Naupada police station stated.
As regards to Mundada, the officer alleged that he posted the defamatory matter against Aher on the social media and also demanded money to settle the issue.