Surat police book 10 for ‘RTI extortion’

Surat: In what it said was a major crackdown on ‘Right to Information (RTI) extortionists', Surat police registered 13 FIRs in the Mahidharpura, Athwalines and Lalgate police stations and booked 10 people. Most of the accused persons allegedly identified themselves as journalists and demanded more than Rs 15 lakh in extortion money over the past few months. Police have arrested three people and have started the procedure to arrest the others. Special operations group (SOG) deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Rajdeepsinh Nakum told TOI: "After many complaints from citizens that gangs of extortionists are harassing them, the Surat police commissioner ordered a crackdown. We investigated and identified bogus journalists who would gang up to extort money. They would file RTIs in govt offices, mainly of the Surat Municipal Corporation, and extort money after getting the information. We have adopted a zero-tolerance policy and filed 13 FIRs against 10 such extortionists. We will continue to book such offenders as no one is allowed to misuse the law to extort money." The 13 FIRs include six filed by Mahidharpura police, three by Lalgate police and four by Athwalines police. Those booked are Mushtaq Hussain Baig (Seven Seas newspaper), Habib-Ur-Rehman Saiyed (Real News Samachar), Ramesh Jangid (Professional Crime News), Aftab Shaikh (Satya-Day newspaper), Javed Shaikh (City Gold newspaper), Talha Chandiwala (Gujarat Samikaran), Sakir Shaikh (Alert News), Ibrahim Pathan, Maksud Natalwala and Yusuf Pathan. Police have arrested Mushtaq Baig, Habib-Ur-Rehman Saiyed and Sakir Shaikh. These accused allegedly demanded between Rs 7,000 and Rs 6,50,000 from citizens and traders. The cumulative amount demanded is higher than Rs 15 lakh. They allegedly already collected Rs 7.6 lakh. Ibrahim Pathan, Maksud Natalwala and Yusuf Pathan allegedly jointly extorted Rs 6.5 lakh from one person. They also allegedly attacked the victim before they got the money. "We were approached by many people and more complaints are in the process of being filed. We request people to come forward and complain against such people without fear," Nakum said. Police allegedly conducted a shaming parade of the arrested persons after carrying out the reconstruction of the crime. Surat: In what it said was a major crackdown on ‘Right to Information (RTI) extortionists', Surat police registered 13 FIRs in the Mahidharpura, Athwalines and Lalgate police stations and booked 10 people. Most of the accused persons allegedly identified themselves as journalists and demanded more than Rs 15 lakh in extortion money over the past few months. Police have arrested three people and have started the procedure to arrest the others. Special operations group (SOG) deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Rajdeepsinh Nakum told TOI: "After many complaints from citizens that gangs of extortionists are harassing them, the Surat police commissioner ordered a crackdown. We investigated and identified bogus journalists who would gang up to extort money. They would file RTIs in govt offices, mainly of the Surat Municipal Corporation, and extort money after getting the information. We have adopted a zero-tolerance policy and filed 13 FIRs against 10 such extortionists. We will continue to book such offenders as no one is allowed to misuse the law to extort money." The 13 FIRs include six filed by Mahidharpura police, three by Lalgate police and four by Athwalines police. Those booked are Mushtaq Hussain Baig (Seven Seas newspaper), Habib-Ur-Rehman Saiyed (Real News Samachar), Ramesh Jangid (Professional Crime News), Aftab Shaikh (Satya-Day newspaper), Javed Shaikh (City Gold newspaper), Talha Chandiwala (Gujarat Samikaran), Sakir Shaikh (Alert News), Ibrahim Pathan, Maksud Natalwala and Yusuf Pathan. Police have arrested Mushtaq Baig, Habib-Ur-Rehman Saiyed and Sakir Shaikh. These accused allegedly demanded between Rs 7,000 and Rs 6,50,000 from citizens and traders. The cumulative amount demanded is higher than Rs 15 lakh. They allegedly already collected Rs 7.6 lakh. Ibrahim Pathan, Maksud Natalwala and Yusuf Pathan allegedly jointly extorted Rs 6.5 lakh from one person. They also allegedly attacked the victim before they got the money. "We were approached by many people and more complaints are in the process of being filed. We request people to come forward and complain against such people without fear," Nakum said. Police allegedly conducted a shaming parade of the arrested persons after carrying out the reconstruction of the crime.
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