Man held for extorting builders by posing as forest department official in Thane

Police have arrested a 33yearold man for allegedly extorting builders in Thane district of Maharashtra by posing as a forest department official in Thane an official said reported news agency PTIThe Special Task Force STF and the AntiExtortion Cell AEC of the Thane polices crime branch arrested the accused Prasadkumar Uttam Bhalerao reported PTIA builder from Shil Daighar area of Thane lodged a complaint against him in this connection he saidPosing as a forest department official in Thane Bhalerao lodged complaints against the victim and other builders in the region to extort money On April 23 the accused demanded Rs 760000 from the victim for withdrawing complaints and RTI applications against him Assistant Commissioner of Police STF Shekar Bagde told PTIAfter the victims complaint the police teams laid a trap and apprehended Bhalerao while accepting the extortion amount of Rs 560 lakh at Shil village around 6 pm on Thursday he said reported PTIA case was registered in this connection at the ShilDaighar police station on April 25 under Indian Penal Code IPC sections 384 385 387 all pertaining to extortion 170 personating a public servant he saidIn another case the police in Maharashtras Thane district have busted an IPL betting racket by conducting a raid at a hotel in Bhiwandi and arrested three persons hailing from Chhattisgarh in this connection an official said reported PTIThe operation was conducted jointly by the officials of the Special Task Force and the AntiExtortion Cell of the Thane polices crime branch on April 25 Deputy Commissioner of Police Shivraj Patil said in a press conference on Friday eveningEfforts are on to trace one more accused who partnered with the arrested trio and operated the racket from Chhattisgarh he saidThe police had received a tipoff that some persons were inviting people to place their bets on the ongoing IPL cricket matches Accordingly a raid was conducted at a hotel in Kongaon village in Bhiwandi between 730 pm and 11 pm on Thursday he said reported PTIThe accused trio was caught taking bets on the match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad They were making use of the mobile applications and collected a total of Rs 1186811 from people the official said reported PTIThe fourth accused who operated from Chhattisgarh collected Rs 703000 from people on the bets he saidThe trio had obtained SIM cards by forging documents During the raids the police seized 12 mobiles one tablet and laptop each collectively valued at Rs 197 lakh from them Patil said reported PTIAssistant Commissioner of Police Shekar Bagde said the police have launched an operation to nab the fourth who operated from Korba in Chhattisgarh reported PTIThe arrested accused were identified as Shannu Lalit Berival 31 Rajat Babula Sharma 30 and Vijay Sitaram Devgan 40 he said reported PTIA first information report FIR was registered under Indian Penal Code IPC sections 420 cheating 465 467 468 471 all pertaining to forgery and 34 common intention at the Kongaon police station the official saidWith inputs from PTI