Staff Reporter

Vasco

In the case involving the extortion of Rs 16 lakh from a Delhi-based businessman, two police personnel, Vinayak Kalangutkar and Anand Naik, were placed under suspension on Thursday for allegedly ignoring the illegality perpetrated by the two main accused, Nitish Naik and Anirudh Pawar.

Pawar and the two cops were part of a flying squad, while Nitish was a lower division clerk (LDC) of electricity department, Vasco, deployed in the information and technology monitoring cell.

Nitish and Pawar, who were suspended in the case on Wednesday, were arrested along with two others, including a driver and the informant, Yadav, who tipped Nitish off about the money in possession of the businessman, later the same day.

All four were produced before the Vasco Judicial Magistrate First Class, who released them on conditional bail and a surety of Rs 20,000. All four have been booked for extortion, said police.

“Kalangutkar and Anand have been suspended for not taking any action in spite of knowing what transpired,” said police.

“Delhi-based businessman Ashok Choudhary was in Goa for real estate business. He was carrying Rs 16 lakh in cash with him on March 31. At Dabolim, Nitish, who was in a car driven by Keshav Khanvekar, intercepted Choudhary posing as an income-tax official and took the money from him,” said police sources.

Suspecting something amiss, Choudhary followed Nitish’s car. When Nitish realised that Choudhary was following him, he called the flying squad to make the seizure look real. Police said Pawar, the flying squad officer, instead of seizing the money, joined the extortion.

Verna police on Thursday recovered Rs 8 lakh, Rs 4 lakh each from Nitish and Pawar, while they were yet to recover remaining Rs 8 lakh.