BJP councillor’s husband held for extortion

Surat: Husband of a BJP municipal councillor was arrested on Tuesday for alleged extorting Rs 10 lakh from a doctor in Didoli. The accused was blackmailing a doctor accusing him of performing illegal abortion.

The arrested accused Sudhakar Chaudhary is husband of BJP municipal councillor of ward no 26 of Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) Daksha Chaudhary. Police said Sudhakar was on the run since past many days after the offence was registered against him in August. Police had also booked Anil Bagle, Yashwant Patil, Umesh Patil and Anil Mohite for their involvement in the crime.

In his complaint, Dr Virendra Patel of Shree Sai Hospital in Dindoli alleged that the accused had thrown a dead foetus near his hospital and clicked photos of his hospital’s staff with it. Later, Chaudhary and other accused started blackmailing Patel. They demanded Rs 20 lakh and after discussions they agreed on Rs 10 lakh.

The accused initially took Rs 3 lakh from Patel and collected Rs 2 lakh the next day. Later, Patel paid him Rs 5 lakh more. However, he continued demanding more money after which Patel approached the police.