Sena corporator held for extortion

The accused has been identified as Vijay Anand Vashirde (60),a Shiv Sena corporator from Bhuleshwar area (ward 217). The police also arrested six other members —Mukesh Sondagar (32),Zakir Shaikh (32),Nisar Shaikh (43),Tabrez Maqbool (28),Laxman Kiran (27) and Siddharth Maekar alias Sidhu (30)—of the gang. All of them are allegedly the members of the Pandav Putra gang led by Deepak Walekar,who is charged under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and presently lodged in jail.

The accused were arrested by unit 2 of the Crime Branch. “Two months ago,the complainant sold a room in 7,Kumbharwada lane,in Girgaum to a person for Rs 25 lakh. The buyer told the complainant that he would pay him,if the room was renovated. The complainant agreed to this and started the renovation work. Sondagar,who stays in the same building,provided the tip-off to Sidhu,who was controlling the gang since Walekar is in jail. Sidhu has been booked previously under MCOCA and preventive sections. He demanded an amount of Rs 13 lakh from the complainant for allowing the renovation to continue,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Rakesh Maria.

“The complainant then approached Sidhu and told him to agree to an amount close to Rs 20,000 and allow him to continue with the renovation. Sidhu accepted the amount,but told him that he would allow the work to continue only if the entire remaining amount was paid. Sidhu even locked the room’s door. Following this,the owner lodged a complaint and a trap was laid to nab him at a hotel,” said Maria.

After changing locations to two different hotels,the extortionists called the complainant to a hotel in Kalbadevi. Sondagar,Zakir and Nisar were present there. Before handing over the money,the complainant asked not to harass him further. The trio took the complainant to another restaurant where Vashirde met them and accepeted the money.

“The Crime Branch team arrested him red-handed. Vashirde told the team that he had accepted the extortion money at the behest of Sidhu,” said Maria.