The arrests were made following charges of extortion. A sitting corporator of the BJP and former Deputy Mayor of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), Keshav Gholve, and four others were arrested by the Pimpri Chinchwad Police on charges of alleged extortion in the early hours of Wednesday.
Officials said that the police were investigating an application that some people were extorting money from shopkeepers and traders in the Pimpri Camp area.
When contacted, Pimpri Chinchwad Police Commissioner Krishna Prakash confirmed that Gholve was arrested by personnel from Pimpri police station. Inspector Shankar Awatade, in-charge of the Pimpri police station, said five persons, including Gholve, were booked for extortion and have been remanded to police custody for further investigation.
Gholve, a BJP corporator from Ward No. 10 of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, was the deputy mayor of the city between November 2020 and March 2021.
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