Mumbai: 24-year-old poses as BJP legislator's PA, extorts money from relatives of jailed inmates, held

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Mumbai Police have arrested a 24-year-old man for allegedly duping the relatives of jailed inmates by posing as the personal assistant (PA) of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Ashish Shelar and allegedly extorting money from them on the pretext of receiving aid from the state government, cops in Bandra said on Monday.

The accused, Amin Irfan Bendrekar had allegedly contacted lawyers and obtained information about their clients on the pretext of being Shelar's PA, said cops. He then approached the relatives of the jailed inmates and told them that the Maharashtra government was planning to release prisoners to decongest the jails, news agency ANI reported.

The police said Bendrekar allegedly took the lawyers into confidence and told the families of the inmates that the amount taken from them would be refunded once the government approved the release of the prisoners. The accused also allegedly extorted money from the relatives by citing various other reasons, including claiming that the amount would be used for the payment of the medical expenses of their jailed kin.

According to the police, the accused had imitated the voice of Shelar's PA and introduced himself as 'Sharma' to the lawyers and relatives of the inmates. An investigation into the matter also revealed that the accused imitated the voice of the BJP Member of Legislative Assembly too.

Bendrekar is a resident of Nala Sopara in Palghar district. Multiple cases have been registered against him across various police stations in Mumbai.

Following a complaint into the matter, the Bandra police tracked him down and arrested him. The police are questioning the accused and an investigation into the case is still underway.

Last month, the Mumbai Police had arrested a cafe owner, who allegedly ran various illegal businesses, on charges of extortion. According to sources in Malwani police station, Baba Khan, used to arrive around in a BMW to collect weekly bribes from hawkers and pavement vendors near his establishment. If a person refused to pay up, Khan's henchmen would beat them up and threaten to shoot them in the head. He would allegedly forcibly take money from people's pockets and if he visited shops or stalls, he would physically remove money from their cash boxes. Paralysed by fear, no one had complained for a long time.

(With ANI inputs)