Student extorts Rs 50,000 from college lecturer,lands in prison

Two days after the incident,Prajwal Shetty,a second-year student of hotel management and among those punished by Kanekar,threatened to lodge a police complaint against him. Shetty also claimed his brother is an encounter specialist and could kill Kanekar in a fake encounter. He then allegedly started blackmailing Kanekar and demanded Rs 50,000.

Kanekar,who came to Mumbai three years ago,agreed to pay the money. He first paid Rs 15,000 in February and Rs 5,000 a few days later. However,Shetty continued to threaten Kanekar and demanded more money. Eventually,Kanekar registered an FIR after he had given Rs 50,000 to the student.

In his statement to the police,Kanekar said,“Shetty started blackmailing me since February. On several occasions,he made me talk to his elder brother,who claimed his name was Dayanand Shetty. The student said his brother is an encounter specialist and can kill me in a fake encounter. He called me several times to demand money. I first paid him Rs 15,000,then Rs 5,000 in February,Rs 15,000 in March and another Rs 15,000 later. I could pay only Rs 50,000. When I refused to pay up more,he threatened to harm my wife. Finally on March 31,I informed the authorities at the institute and registered an FIR on April 2.”

Shetty’s attendance was also less and he had allegedly asked Kanekar to allow him to appear for the exam. Further,he demanded that Kanekar give him the question paper in advance or pass him.

According to the Kharghar police,Shetty neither has a brother by the name Dayanand nor does he know any encounter specialist policeman. Assistant police inspector Anil Patil of Kharghar police station said,“We have booked the student under Section 387 (putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt in order to commit extortion) and Section 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. The student has confessed to his crime and told us that only Rs 6,000 of the extorted amount is left with him,which we have seized. We are now trying to ascertain if anyone else was involved in the crime.”

A senior representative of the ITM Group of Institutions said the college first tried to resolve the issue amicably,but Kanekar continued to receive threats on phone and in person. “Fearing for himself and family,Kanekar appealed to ITM management. ITM has taken up the matter with the authorities and the student has been detained for inquiry. We have taken whatever action we felt was necessary to prevent any further harm to the faculty and others,” he said.