‘Confession doesn’t seem voluntary’: Court acquits 2 booked in extortion case

The police had claimed that Pujari had made the calls to the builder in November 2018 and demanded Rs 2 crore to continue the construction work on his project and threatened him with consequences if the payment was not made.

In January 2019, calls were also made to the builder’s son and nephew, demanding money. The builder then approached Goregaon police, which handed over the probe to the anti-extortion cell.

The accused were also booked under sections of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, under which a confession made before a certain rank police official is admissible as evidence.

Special Judge Mahesh K Jadhav said that the mandatory provisions of the MCOCA were not followed by the police and that the confession does not seem voluntary.

“The presence of assistant police inspector in the confession room as well as the presence of police officer in civil dress…presence of custody of parents of accused William (Rodrigues) with police officers clearly reflect the confession was an outcome of threat, inducement, etc and it is not voluntary in nature,” the special court said, adding that the confession is “not free from threat and inducement”.

The police had claimed that Rodrigues had shown his willingness to confess to the crime and his confession was recorded. During the trial, Rodrigues’ lawyer, M B Shirsath, said that the confession was not voluntary as his parents were kept in the custody of the investigating officers.

He also submitted that the sanction under MCOCA was not valid.