Mumbai: Clean-up marshals nabbed for trying to extort two men

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The attempts of two clean-up marshals to make some quick money by trying to extort two men at the Mahalaxmi railway station failed after the victims created a hullabaloo over the matter and drew the attention of passersby, who handed over the culprits to the Tardeo cops.

According to the police, 25-year-old Ajant Kumar Gupta, a resident of Mira Road, had just got down from a train along with his cousin Pankaj Kumar and friend Mohammed Anwar Bindu when the culprits approached them. "We were planning to go to Haji Ali Dargah. When we started walking on the footpath outside the station, two men came up to us and said that we were spitting on the road. I sharply reacted and said that we hadn't done anything of that sort. This made them angry. They immediately asked for R200 from each of us as fine."

Police sources said that the duo had identified themselves as clean-up marshals working for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). After Gupta and Bindu gave them R200 each, they started walking away. However, when the victims asked for a receipt, they refused. This led to a verbal argument, which attracted the attention of passersby. When the marshals refused to return the money, some of the locals took them to the Tardeo police station, where they were arrested.

The marshals have been identified as Mangesh Shinde and Jitendra Shinde, both working on a contractual basis for BMC. Speaking to mid-day, Sanjay Surve, senior PI of Tardeo police station, said, "They have been booked for extortion. After being produced in court, they were remanded in judicial custody."

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