Four new extortion cases filed in Palghar, MLC under scanner

With four more cases of extortion registered against politicians and Right To Information (RTI) activists, a Member of Legislative Council (MLC) is now under scanner. The Palghar police have registered a total of eight cases in three days and five persons have been arrested so far.

According to Palghar police, three cases were registered at Vasai police station, while one was registered at Valiv police station. Govinda Gunjalkar, the NCP Chief of Vasai-Virar region, and Dhananjay Gawade, a Shiv Sena Corporator, have been booked along with Sanjay Kadam, Ashok Dube, Amarjeet Yadav, and Rajesh Dube, among other persons. The accused persons demanded amount ranging between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 crore from builders after gathering details of their projects through RTI queries.

"During the probe, we learned about the involvement of the MLC and are collecting evidence against few more politicians involved directly or indirectly in the extortion racket. We have sought details from the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation on the complaints filed by the accused persons," said an officer of the local crime branch.

Questions are now being being raised about illegalities in building projects in the entire Vasai-Virar region, from where reports of extortionists masquerading as RTI activists were filed.

Vivek Pandit, Ex-MLA of Vasai, said, "Action must be taken against persons indulging in the extortion racket. Builders and contractors involved in illegal developments must also face action. Information collected by the accused should be used against the builders, too."

"Everybody should be treated equally before the law. No one should be spared on account of being a public representative," said Pandit.