Gangster-turned-real estate dealer Santosh Ambekar's police remand extended till Feb 12

NAGPUR: A magistrate's court on Sunday has extended the police custody remand for gangster-turned-real estate dealer Santosh Ambekar, who had earlier been slapped thrice with Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) offences, in a case of extortion and Arms Act violation. Ambekar and four of his accomplices have been remanded to crime branch custody till February 12.
Crime branch, which had already procured 10-day custody, had argued for extension of remand till Wednesday on different grounds including seizure of the firearm used to threaten complainant Jeetendra Chavan. The crime branch official, who had last week seized Ambekar's BMW car, also had argued that accused Poonam Wasnik was still yet to be arrested in the case.
Ambekar, along with former murder accused Yuvraj Mathankar, Gautam Bhatkar, Sanjay Fatode and Ashish Borkar, were arrested towards end of January by crime branch after builder Chavan complained of extortion and being threatened at gunpoint by the gang at the behest of Poonam over a property dispute. Chavan had complained that Ambekar and others had threatened him to cough up Rs 65 lakh to Poonam through cheques. The builder was threatened at Ambazari police station. Crime branch also wanted to extend remand of Ambekar and others in order to recover the cheques given to Poonam by Chavan.