18/3/2018
PUNE: A member
of Pune Zilla Parishad and his associate were arrested from suburban Mulund
here while accepting Rs one crore "extortion" amount from a prominent
Powai-based builder, police said.
The accused, Gulab Parkhe, who earlier worked in the builder's
construction company, was caught red-handed yesterday along with his associate
Vithal Falke, a police official said. "Parkhe had worked in the
construction company for about six years, but quit the job last year. He then
went to his village in Junnar tehsil in Pune district. There he got associated
with a political party and was elected as a Pune ZP member," the official
said.
Soon, Parkhe raised objections over his former employer's
"illegal" construction activities in Powai and filed a complaint
against them with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). A construction
company official contacted the accused in November last year to know the reason
behind his complaint.
"Parkhe then demanded Rs 20 crore from them to settle the
matter. However, after negotiations, the amount was finally settled for Rs six
crore, to be paid in instalments," he said. "On January 10, the
company paid Rs 10 lakh to him as the first instalment. But the accused started
pressuring them and threatened them he would not let them go ahead with the
project," the official said.
The company approached Powai police and lodged a complaint. "Police
laid a trap and arrested the accused and his associate red-handed from a hotel
in Mulund while accepting the extortion amount of Rs one crore last evening,"
DCP (Zone X) N D Reddy said. The duo has been booked under IPC sections 384
(extortion) and 34 (common intention).
They were produced in a local court, which sent them to two-day police custody for further investigation into the matter, Reddy added.
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