Woman PSI vs amateur extortionist

MUMBAI, December 18: It was a meticulously planned operation and sub-inspector Vijaya Hiremath was to be backed by armed cops as she, dress...

MUMBAI, December 18: It was a meticulously planned operation and sub-inspector Vijaya Hiremath was to be backed by armed cops as she, dressed in civvies, met the extortionist. However, when she came face-to-face with the man, who called himself Khan, she was alone.

Organiser of arts exhibitions, Madhuri Sonawala, had received several threatening calls from Anwar Khan, who claimed to belong to the D-gang. He wanted Rs 2 lakh. On Wednesday evening, Khan threatened Sonawala to pay up “or meet the fate of Gulshan Kumar.” Sonawala would have ignored him, but then he started talking about her business dealings and her regular trips to Ahmedabad, the hotels she stayed in – he knew everything.

Sonawala lodged a complaint with the crime branch. The cops threw a protective cordon around her residence and asked her to negotiate the extortion amount. After much haggling, Khan agreed to accept Rs 75,000 and asked Sonawala to meet him at Hotel Marine Plaza near Churchgate.

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Since Sonawala was too nervous, she was instructed to tell Khan that she would send her cousin Preeti with the money. Khan reluctantly agreed. Now, it was Inspector Vijaya Hiremath’s turn to play Preeti.

An entire police team led by Assistant Commissioner of police, L R Rao, laid a trap at Marine Plaza. However, Khan called on Sonawala’s mobile (that Hiremath was carrying) and told her to come to the foyer of Hotel Oberoi, which she did, closely followed by the police party.

When Hiremath stepped into Oberoi’s foyer, her mobile rang again. Khan asked her to go to the lobby of Hotel Taj. Hiremath, who was driving Sonawala’s car, drove down to the Taj. At Taj, Khan called again and told her that she was being followed by some men. He now wanted her to drive down to Nariman Point to shake off the tail.

Hiremath realised that Khan had been watching her all the time as she drove from one hotel to the other and must have noticed the plain clothes policemen moving with her. She realised that now it would be just herself and the extortionist.

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She decided to play along. Expressing her weariness at the entire exercise, Hiremath refused to go to yet another destination prescribed by Khan.

Hiremath insisted that Khan collect the money or else she would go back. Eventually Hiremath had her way. Khan agreed to meet her at Colaba. She signalled the police party to stop following her and reached Regal cinema. Khan shrewdly steered her to a waiting cab. Once inside, Khan wanted to take her to Sassoon docks. Hiremath refused and drew her service revolver and asked Khan to surrender.He was overpowered and arrested. Khan’s interrogation revealed that he was Rajiv Parikh from Indore. "This incident should be an eye-opener for those businessmen who readily part with their hard-earned money at threatening calls from any riff-raff," a crime branch officer said. A riff raff? Ask Hiremath.