Marketing man abducted, released after Rs 2 lakh extortion; seven fake cops held

THANE: The anti-extortion cell of Thane crime branch arrested a gang of seven, who impersonated a policeman, abducted marketing personnel from Bhiwandi and extorted nearly Rs 2 lakh by threatening him of plotting a false case against him.
The police said that those arrested are identified as Sanjay Mhatre, 45, Kailas Patange, 30, Nikhil Joshi, 26, Sagar Chinchole, 26, Imran Shaikh, 40, Tabrej Shaikh, Nilesh Patil, while two of them are yet to be arrested in the case.
A police officer said that it was on January 27, 2023 at around 10.30pm when the victim was returning home in his two-wheeler, the accused who came in an Ertiga car way laid him and dumped him in the car by showing him ID card of police and even police plate was kept in the car.
“They identified themselves as policemen and intimated him that he would be roped in a false case. They took him to Nerul in Navi Mumbai by continuously assaulting him and made a demand of Rs 10 lakh. After much negotiation they took Rs 2 lakh from him then left him at Rajnoli naka where one of his relatives rescued him,” said Maloji Shinde, the senior inspector of anti-extortion cell.
Following the complaint by the victim to the AEC, the Nizampura police registered a case under various sections of abductions, extortion, criminal intimidation, impersonation as public servants etc of the Indian Penal Code.
Shinde and his team worked on several leads including--mobile numbers, technical and intelligence inputs and finally zeroed in on the accused in the past couple of days and arrested them. The police also seized two cars, mobiles and Rs 40,500 cash taken as extortion.
During the interrogation, the police learnt that serious offences were also registered with Kashimira in Mira Bhayander, Vaijapur (Aurangabad), Dindori (Nashik) Kej (Beed), Vinoba Bhave Nagar (Mumbai), Kasarwadavali in Thane, Nizampura, Bhiwandi taluka, Valiv (Palghar) and Tilak Nagar police stations against Sanjay Mhatre, Kailas Patange, and Imran Shaikh.
The police said that they are further probing into the crime.