Scribe held in extortion racket

The anti-extortion cell of the city police on Wednesday arrested three people including the “executive editor” of a Hindi daily on charges of demanding a bribe from the owner of an embroidery unit in Sewree.

The trio were identified as Sayyed Sadiq, (editor of Tej Chhaya), Mansur Khan and Mohammed Sheikh. Sadiq and Sheikh were remanded to judicial custody till May 8 while Mansur was released on a bail of Rs10,000 on Thursday.

Sadiq “threatened” the owner of Ms Gravit International to tell BMC that the unit, set up in Sewree in December 2005, was “illegal”. The owner refused to pay him the money. After a few days, BMC officials visited the unit and told the owner that they would take action against him.

A few days later, Sadiq again called the owner and demanded the money. The owner then lodged a complaint with the police. The police team then laid a trap and arrested the trio.