Five arrested in city for extortion

MUMBAI: The crime branch recently arrested five persons for making extortion threats to a builder in the western suburbs. The police refused to divulge the identity of the victim.
According to senior police inspector Pradeep Shinde, three unidentified persons had entered the office of the builder last month, armed with two country made revolvers and asked him to call Manoj and Afzal Bhai in Dubai.When the builder called the Dubai number, a person claiming to be gangsterFazl-ur-rehman’s man demanded Rs 50 lakhs from him.
A deal was struck and it was agreed that the builder would pay the money in instalments with the first instalment of Rs 25 lakhs. The money was to be paid at hotel Vihar in Santa Cruz. Meanwhile, the builder informed the police. A trap was laid by sub-inspectors Jagdish Kulkarni, Suresh Avhad, and Kalim Shaikh at the spot. Two persons, Mahesh Sandav (26) and Suresh Mandal (32) were arrested redhanded while allegedly accepting the money.
On interrogation of the duo, they revealed the names of their accomplice, Santosh Ghadi (23), Jitendra Singh (21), who allegedly belongs to the Chhota Shakeel gang and Sunil Singh (28) who had supplied weapons to the duo.