The Thane police have arrested a tempo driver for trying to extort money from a senior citizen by claiming himself to be gangster Ravi Pujari. Accused Darasingh Harishankar Patel had demanded Rs20 lakh from the elderly citizen through two text messages.
The Thane police have arrested a tempo driver for trying to extort money from a senior citizen by claiming himself to be gangster Ravi Pujari. Accused Darasingh Harishankar Patel had demanded Rs20 lakh from the elderly citizen through two text messages.
Patel apparently had got the idea of using the underworld operative's name from crime stories in newspapers, said the cops.
Narayan Gajanan Lawande, a social worker and resident of Panchpakhadi area of Thane had approached the cops after he received two SMSes between March 23 and March 31.
In his complaint to the police, Lawande said in the first message, the sender had claimed himself to be Ravi Pujari and threatened to kill him if he didn't cough up Rs20 lakh. In the second message, 'Pujari' said he needed the money to secure bail for three of his aides – Abhishek Salve, Aniket Jadhav and Bharat Dev.
The Thane cops tracked down Patel, a diva resident, with the help of the mobile number. He has been booked under section 385 (extortion), 504 (breach of the peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, and section 66 of the IT Act. If proven guilty, the 28-year-old may face jail for a maximum of seven years.
An officer from Naupada police station said, "We will present the accused in a court. We are probing as to how he got the number of the complainant. It seems he hit upon the idea after reading newspaper reports about the don."
Dombivli man gets call of 'Pujari'
In another case, a man from Dombivli got a call from an unknown number on March 30 where the caller threatened to kill him if he didn't pay up Rs20 crore. Tukaram Nagar resident Ram Keshav Bhagat, who is into construction business, told the Dombivli police that he received the call about 9.45 am and the person on the other end said he would call up again. The cops have registered a case and initiated a probe.
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