04 November,2017 07:36 PM IST | Mumbai | A Correspondent
The criminal is a detective, who turned against the very person who had hired him, extorted money from him to keep his indiscretions quiet, and later, became a 'whistle-blower'
This can be called a twisted case of 'jis thaali mein khaayaa, usi mein chhed kiya'. The criminal is a detective, who turned against the very person who had hired him, extorted money from him to keep his indiscretions quiet, and later, became a 'whistle-blower' by making the alleged illegalities public anyway.
Radheshyam Mopalwar
The private eye's client was none other than IAS officer and vice chairman-managing director of MSRDC Radheshyam Mopalwar, who was sent on leave pending an inquiry against him in a bribery case.
The Anti-Extortion Cell of the Thane Crime Branch yesterday arrested the detective, Satish Mangle, his wife Shraddha and his friend Anil Vegmehta for allegedly extorting money from Mopalwar, based on a complaint from the latter.
On August 1, during the monsoon session, Mangle provided tapes to news channels, allegedly of Mopalwar demanding Rs 4 crore for allotting a plot in Borivli to one Jal Mehta.
"Mangle had asked for Rs 10 crore from Mopalwar to stop the release of more tapes to channels. The amount was settled at Rs 7 crore, and on Friday, Rs 1 crore was to be paid to Mangle in Thane. We caught him red-handed," said Parambir Singh, Commissioner of Police, Thane.
During the investigation, the police found out that Mangle had cases of rape, extortion and other offences registered against him. "Mopalwar and his wife were heading for a divorce, and he had hired Mangle to monitor her movements. Mangle would be around Mopalwar all day and got close to him, becoming privy to all his calls, including discussions about development projects and monetary deals, which he recorded," said an AEC officer.
Mangle allegedly met Mopalwar's ex-wife as well and told her that he had been hired to keep an eye on her. After that, he started extorting money from both of them.
The AEC found out that the accused and Mopalwar had met at JW Marriott and several other places for deals. A case has been registered regarding the same at Thane Nagar police station.
One clean chit
Among the many cases registered against Mopalwar, the CBI has cleared him of all allegations in the multi-crore stamp paper scam and even clarified that he (Mopalwar) was one of the complainants in the case. It had also submitted an affidavit in this regard before the district court and the high court.
