Brothers booked for extortion

Nagpur: Two brothers were booked on Sunday for an alleged extortion bid. Suraj Nagpure, a former employee of a steel trader, and his younger brother Pankaj, were booked by Lakadganj police for allegedly threatening and demanding Rs 1 lakh per month as protection money from the Kalamna-based trader Rajesh Soni. Suraj had been working as a driver with Soni. Sources from police station said that Suraj was fired from his job by Soni around a year-and-half back after the trader noticed his employee was making advances towards his wife by sending her implicit SMSs. Soni had approached Lakadganj police for registering an offence under IT Act and outraging the modesty of a woman. A few days later, the police had booked Suraj on charges of damaging Soni’s car. In the latest incident, the Nagpure brothers wanted Soni to cough up Rs 1 lakh as compensation for having sent Suraj out of his livelihood. Police said Pankaj hurled abuses at Soni and also threatened him. The brothers also threatened Soni that his wife and mother too would be targeted. The episode was captured in the CCTV of Soni’s factory. Senior PI SB Mane of Lakadganj police station said Nagpure brothers have already been arrested. “Suraj has previous crime record and he was booked by Tehsil police for theft,” said Mane, adding an offence has been registered against the brothers after verifying CCTV footage.