The crime branch of the Mumbai police have arrested four members of a gang, including a former CISF officer, who allegedly extorted money from businesspersons and hoteliers posing as anti-narcotic cops. The accused have been identified as Deepak Jadhav, the former Central Industrial Security Force officer, Dilip Manjulkar, Rustom Shah and Sachin Malhotra. Two other suspects are absconding, said officers from Unit 09 of the crime branch.

The accused, carrying fake ID cards of the Anti-Narcotics Cell, would approach their targets with small drug pouches, take them in an auto to a police station and demand money to release them, said cops. A man who runs a stationery business had filed a case at Versova police station, which transferred the case to the crime branch. In the complainant’s case, the gang allegedly demanded Rs 50 lakh from him, but settled at Rs 20 lakh for which he gave them a cheque. The accused took the cheque to a bank to withdraw cash, but were asked to return in two days.

Rustom Shah and Dilip Manjulkar

“Jadhav then asked the complainant to transfer Rs 5 lakh to his wife’s account. After getting this amount, the accused did not go to the bank to collect R20 lakh in cash,” an officer said. The accused also took a smartphone from the complainant. Daya Nayak, senior PI of Unit 09, and his team arrested Jadhav, the prime accused, from Goregaon and the other three thereafter.

The crime branch suspects that the gang had been operating in the city for the past year and used to target businessmen every Friday and Saturday. The cops believe there are at least 10-12 victims in Mumbai who have not approached police yet. “We have found several monetary transactions in the account number of the accused, which confirms that money has been taken from several people,” an officer said. “We appeal to people to come forward and register a police complaint, if the same set of people have also threatened and extorted money from them,” said Raj Tilak Roushan, DCP (Detection 1).

12
No of more victims cops suspect there are

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