Maharashtra: Six booked for bid to extort Rs 15 lakh from Thane truck driver

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An official on Sunday said that police have registered a case against six persons who allegedly posed as journalists and demanded Rs 15 lakh from a Thane truck driver for allowing his iron rods-laden vehicle to pass from Thane in Maharashtra, reported news agency PTI.

The incident took place on Friday morning when the truck was proceeding from Panvel in Navi Mumbai through the Nhava Sheva road towards Jaipur in Rajasthan.

The accused waylaid the truck below a bridge at Rajnoli Naka in Bhiwandi area in Thane at around 5 am, the official from Kongaon police station said, reported PTI.

They identified themselves as journalists and made a demand of Rs 15 lakh from the Thane truck driver for allowing the truck to proceed further, he said, reported PTI.

The truck driver later approached the police with a complaint, based on which an FIR was registered against six persons, including two unidentified, under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the official said, reported PTI.

A probe was on into the case, the police said.

In another case, an official on Sunday said that police have arrested two persons after seizing mephedrone valued at Rs 8.6 lakh from them in Maharashtra's Thane district, reported PTI.

Acting on a tip, a team of the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) laid a trap opposite a hotel at Kalyan Phata on old Mumbai-Pune road in Daighar area on Thursday night and caught the duo, reported PTI.

The ANC sleuths seized 86 gms of mephedrone powder from them, the official from Shil-Daighar police station said.

The two persons, aged 35 and 42, were arrested on Friday and booked under provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, he said, reported PTI.

The police were probing from where the accused sourced the contraband and to whom they planned to sell it.

Meanwhile, eight persons were arrested on Saturday for allegedly breaking into the premises of a company and stealing materials worth Rs 29 lakh in Maharashtra's Palghar district, police said, reported PTI.

The accused broke into a company in the Manichapada area of Nalla Sopara in the wee hours of July 3 and decamped with ready cables and raw copper material rolls worth Rs 29 lakh, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Madan Ballal said, reported PTI.

The accused tied up two security guards and locked them in a room on the premises to carry out the theft, he said.

Based on the CCTV footage and technical intelligence, the police zeroed in on the accused, who are from neighbouring Mumbai and Thane districts, the official said.

The police have recovered the stolen materials, a truck, a motorcycle and mobile phones from the accused, he said, reported PTI.

The probe has revealed that two of the accused were history sheeters with cases of murder to their name, senior inspector Pramod Badakh said.

(With inputs from PTI)