Man arrested for ‘demanding Rs 1 crore’ from Pune Regional Transport Officer

Shinde lodged the first information report in this case at the Bundgarden police station on Friday. The arrested accused has been identified as Sachin Gavhane. His wife Sonal Gavhane has also been booked in the case but not been arrested yet.

Gavhane had lodged an FIR at the MIDC Bhosari police station in 2019 against his brother Sameer for allegedly transferring his truck in the name of one Vishal Tavhare by submitting forged documents at the Pimpri-Chinchwad RTO.

In the offence, police had also booked six RTO officials and staffers, including the then deputy RTO, Pimpri Chinchwad, for their alleged role in the crime. Police had then submitted a proposal to the Transport Commissioner, Mumbai, seeking approval for filing a chargesheet against the accused RTO officials. But the proposal is still pending.

Meanwhile, Sachin Gavhane sent several emails to various government officials and departments demanding approval of the police proposal to file a chargesheet against the accused RTO officials. But later, Sachin allegedly approached RTO Shinde and demanded Rs 1 crore for withdrawing his complaint.

“He (Sachin) and his wife contacted me. They wanted me to collect Rs 1 crore from the accused RTO officials and staff, and give them the amount. Later, they decided on an amount of Rs 85 lakh that I should give them for closing the complaint against the accused … On June 1, 2022, he forwarded e-mails to various government offices in which he used highly objectionable words for the Constitution of India. He also used defamatory language for me in the emails. Initially, I ignored him but then I decided to lodge a police complaint against him and his wife,” said Shinde.

Police have arrested Shinde on charges of extortion and a court has remanded him to police custody for two days for further investigation.