Police inspector Nandakumar Gopale and Asha Korke arrested by Maharashtra CID in an extortion case were on Tuesday sent to seven days police custody.
The state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had on Monday arrested the cops in connection with an extortion case registered against them in July, former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh and DCP Akbar Pathan are also accused in the case.
While confirming the development a senior officer from CID said that the two will be produced before the Esplanade court on Tuesday, with their arrest the number of people arrested in the case reached four, the earlier two being Sanjay Punamiya and Sunil Jain. Police officers Sanjay Patil, Shreekant Shinde are among others who have been booked.
As per the complaint developer Shyamsunder Agrawal, Gopale and Korke had allegedly accepted an extortion of ₹50 lakh through a third person for not arresting Agrawal in the case. During the investigation, evidence was found against the duo, which led to their arrests, stated a press note issued by state CID.
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In July the Marine Drive police registered a First Information Report (FIR) on a complaint of Agrawal, who has multiple criminal cases registered against him. He claimed that several crores of rupees have been extorted from him over several years for multiple reasons including not arresting him in an extortion case in which stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) was also pressed.
Initially Mumbai police formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the case however the case was later transferred to State CID.
According to Agarwal, his former partner Punamiya was a ‘close aide’ of Param Bir Singh had extorted several crores from him and also had allegedly taken possession of his properties.
Agrawal has gone on to state that on February 17, 2021, an offence of threatening and extortion was registered against him on the basis of a complaint given by Punamiya, who allegedly received threat calls from underworld gangster Chhota Shakeel at the behest of Agrawal from November 2016 to December 2020. On March 1, MCOCA was applied in the case.
As per his statement to police, on March 5, PI Gopale raided his house and office at Mira-Bhayandar while PI Korke raided his house at Vile Parle. Agrawal has claimed that during the raid, Gopale contacted Pathan in his presence and demanded Rs 50 lakh for not arresting him. Agrawal has also claimed that Kokare sent a photograph of a 10-rupee note to his nephew Sharad and told him to give the money to the person who would be carrying the same 10-rupee note. Agarwal claims that his relatives gave the money and he was not arrested in the case.
