Gandhinagar:  Man arrested for ‘extorting schools’ for 12 yrs after obtaining info under RTI

Police also recovered Rs 1.47 crore in cash and around 200-300 files of various schools after raids at Mahendra’s residence Saturday following Gajera’s complaint.

According to police, the accused has been allegedly extorting money from schools since 2012. “Mahendra Patel used to file RTI, ask the regional DEO about schools and on what grounds were they given the permission. After getting the information, he used to take it to the school’s board and state that they don’t have certain permission. Then, he’d write to the DEO about it and get the school closed,” Deputy Superintendent of Police Ashvin Patel told The Indian Express.

The police said he used to arrive in a “Gujarat government” car and hence, various school authorities assumed he was a state government official. In his complaint, Gajera stated that Mahendra asked him to pay him so that he would not be harassed by the office of the Gujarat Secondary Education Board in Gandhinagar.

Subsequently, Gajera paid Mahendra Rs 11 lakh in cash at the latter’s residence. This, as per Gajera, continued every three-four months between 2015 and 2017, with nearly 11 visits during which he paid Mahendra Rs 66 lakh. However, he ceased the payments after realising that Mahendra has been extorting other schools also for years and filed a complaint with the Gujarat CID Crime.

Mahendra has been charged under various IPC sections, including impersonating a public servant, extortion and putting a person in fear or accusation of offence to commit extortion.