2 held for extorting Rs 29 lakh from PMC engineer

According to the police,Lalasaheb Sambhaji Tadakhe (49) works as a deputy engineer at PMC’s electrical department. He had borrowed some money from Waghmare. Waghmare had taken Kanse’s help to give Rs 40,000 to Tadakhe about three months ago on the condition that he would return them Rs 60,000 in a couple of days. But when Tadakhe could not return the money on time,the duo allegedly started demanding more money from him as interest. Initially they forcibly took Rs 1.5 lakh from Tadakhe.

Police said the duo allegedly threatened to rape Tadhake’s daughter and kidnap his son if the demand was not met. On June 8,the suspects allegedly kidnapped Tadakhe’s son. They left him when Tadakhe assured them to give the money. Tadakhe then paid Rs 7 lakh to the suspects at Jangli Maharaj Mandir.

The suspects continued to extort money from him. Threatening to harms his children,the suspects forced him to pay money on different occasions. In all,they had allegedly extorted Rs 29.5 lakh from Tadakhe.

Police said Tadakhe collected money from his friends and gave it to the suspects. He did not lodge any police complaint as he feared that they would harm his children. Police said the suspects had once allegedly confined Tadakhe at a lodge and beat him. They also forcibly made Tadakhe write that he owes Rs 9 lakh to the suspects.

On Monday,Tadakhe approached the Crime Branch and filed a complaint against Waghmare and Kanse. A team led by inspector Sachin Savant then arrested the duo and produced them before magisterial court today.

Judicial Magistrate (first class) V D Deshmukh remanded the suspects in police custody till July 30.

The first information report in this case has been lodged at the Khadak police station. Police have recovered a motorcycle,two mobile phones,a blank stamp paper from the suspects. Police said Kanse was earlier booked in cases of attempt to dacoity. Sub-inspector Bharat Kindre is investigating the case.