Novices drop names for easy extortion

Most people arrested in the city for extortion are petty criminals and first timers who try to make easy money using the name of infamous underworld gangs, Mumbai police statistics show. The big guns in the business may have been decimated or forced to flee, but their names still strike fear in the city. And a majority of those caught till November end this year are first timers who had tried to exploit the fear of the underworld to make a quick buck, police say.
In June 2009, Crime Branch officials had arrested a small time actor Ajit Pandey for trying to extort money from the owner of a film production company.He had called up victim Pramod Kapoor posing as a relative of Chota Shakeel and asked him to either give him lead roles in films or pay Rs 20 lakh.
In another incident, the Cuffe Parade police arrested three persons in October for trying to extort Rs 10 lakh from a businessman by posing as gangsters.
Out of the 287 persons arrested for extortion in the city till last month are petty criminals and only a handful are history sheeters. While no extortion offences were reported against Dawood, Chota Rajan and Arun Gawli, three of the arrested were from the Ashwin Naik gang.
When contacted, joint commissioner of police Rakesh Maria (crime) said that some petty criminals were trying to extort money, cashing in on the void created by the underworld gangs.
There were 40 more cases of extortion registered this year compared to last year, with the highest number of extortion cases being registered in the eastern suburbs, closely followed by the western and central suburbs.
Case studies
November 22, 2009
One person trying to extort money from an Andheri based businessman posing as an Anti-Corruption Bureau officer was arrested by the Sahar police. Santoshkumar Gaud (30) and an accomplice approached Sanjay Nair, a wholesale dealer of curtains and told him that the mezzanine floor of his godown was constructed in violation of municipal regulations. They asked him to cough up Rs 50,000 or face demolition of the illegal construction. Nair tried to explain to them that his godown was over 15 years old, but the men did not relent and came back the next day asking for money. Nair informed the Sahar police while keeping the duo engaged in conversation. A team of plainclothes policemen reached the spot within minutes and arrested Gaud but his accomplice managed to flee.
The police later recovered a card from Gaud which stated that he was a member of the Anti Corruption Committee. He was booked for cheating and extortion.
November 20, 2009
Two persons believed to have been involved in extortion were arrested by the Juhu police after they fired at a Vile Parle (W) based businessman. According to the police accused Faraz Khan and Rakesh Barve are natives of Madhya Pradesh and had come to Mumbai to target Deepak Bhandari. They had kept a watch on Bhandaris movements for a few days and open fired on him in his compound when he returned from work. An electrician near the building witnessed the incident and raised an alarm. The duo was caught after a short chase with the help of passersby and police constables. Bhandari luckily escaped the attack without any serious injuries.
October 29, 2009
On October 1, two men on a bike fired four rounds on Krishna Shetty outside his hotel in Kalina. According to the police Shetty was targeted as he had refused to give in to the extortion demands of Rs 25000 per month of the members of the Sachin Kambhe gang. Shetty and his friend Nicholas Gomes sustained bullet injuries but fortunately did not suffer any severe damage despite being shot at close range. PI
Within a month of the incident the crime branch claimed to have solved the case with the arrest of accused Vencil Roy Miranda (27) and Nitin Prabhakar Pawar (28). They were arrested on a tip off from Chembur and a motorcycle and 7.65 mm pistol was recovered from them.
Rakesh Maria, joint commissioner of police (crime) had said that the duo had several cases of threatening, extortion and robberies registered against them.