A team from the Mumbai Crime Branch on Saturday detained one person from Lucknow in the angadia extortion case. He is likely to be arrested and produced before a court on Sunday. Sources said he was a vital link between Inspector Om Vangaate, who has been arrested, and wanted accused DCP Saurabh Tripathi. Meanwhile, in their probe into the angadia extortion case, the Mumbai Police have recorded the statement of a middleman, claiming that through him, Rs 1.5 lakh collected from angadias was passed on from Vangate to a suspect. Vangaate, who has also been suspended, was arrested earlier this month. He was produced before the Metropolitan Magistrate's court on Saturday. The police sought further custody on several grounds, including that the probe had revealed that a middleman was paid Rs 1.5 lakh by Vangaate, to be paid to a suspect. While the police sought his further custody, the court sent Vangaate to judicial custody till March 23. Two other accused arrested earlier in connection to the case are also in judicial custody till March 23. Tripathi’s anticipatory bail plea, filed through lawyers Aniket Nikam and Vivek Arote, states that he was not named in the initial inquiry conducted by the additional commissioner of police. Tripathi’s plea states that he was not named in the FIR either since there was no evidence to show that he was connected to the case in any manner. The plea further states that Tripathi had no connection with the angadias, nor was there any evidence to show that he had demanded or received any money. Tripathi was named an absconding accused earlier this week. A complaint filed by the Angadia Association of Bhuleshwar had alleged that Tripathi demanded Rs 10 lakh per month from them as bribe to allow them to run their business. The complaint had initially named three policemen, claiming that evidence had shown that money was being extorted from the angadias. Tripathi was transferred from Zone II to DCP (Operations) after the FIR was lodged. He has been on sick leave. His anticipatory bail plea will be heard next week.
