The Mulund police has registered an extortion case against a BMC ward engineer for allegedly being part of a scheme where `1.5 lakh was extorted from the owner of a furniture and interior shop. While a local social worker has already been arrested, the engineer has gone absconding and the police has launched a manhunt to nab him.
The complainant, who is the proprietor of one Riddhi Curtains on the RRT Road in Mulund (west), had been threatened by local social worker Pankaj Chandanshive to expose an alleged illegal construction that the former had undertaken. “Chandanshive accused him of constructing an illegal residential property above his shop. He demanded `1.5 lakh from the complainant, failing which he would bring the unauthorised construction to the notice of the civic officials who would later demolish it. The complainant did not wish to pay and approached us following which we registered a case and arrested Chandanshive,” said an officer from Mulund police station.
However, during the process of investigation, the police learnt about the involvement of BMC engineer Pramod Waghmare, who is attached to the local ward office. The police added his name in the FIR when he went absconding, and has now made an Anticipatory Bail Application in the sessions court. “The extortion was done at the behest of Waghmare who had detected the illegality and asked Chandanshive to extort the money,” the officer added.