Man held for extortion bid

The anti-extortion cell of Pune crime branch on Wednesday arrested Vikram Choudhari (23),a driver,for allegedly making threatening calls to Sanghamitra Gaikwad,vice-president of the women’s wing of the state unit of Republican Party of India and trying to extort Rs 10 lakh from her.

Based on the complaint filed by Gaikwad and a tip off to two officers from anti-extortion cell,Kishor Jadhav and Bharat Kendre,cops arrested Choudhari and recovered four mobile handsets and nine SIM cards worth Rs 9100 from him. A case has been registered at Mundhwa police station against Choudhari,a resident of Kasewadi slum area in Bhavani Peth.