Angadia extortion case: Mumbai cops may travel to UP to trace suspended DCP Saurabh Tripathi

Saurabh Tripathi. File pic

The Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) probing the Angadia (traditional couriers) extortion case is likely to visit Uttar Pradesh soon to trace suspended Mumbai Deputy Commissioner of Police Saurabh Tripathi, an absconding accused in the case, an official said on Monday.

He said the crime branch has sought permission from top officers to travel to Kanpur, where Tripathi's residence is located. A team of four officials, including an Assistant Police Inspector (API), will travel to UP, he added.

Earlier, the crime branch had arrested assistant sales tax commissioner Ashutosh Mishra, brother-in-law of Tripathi, from Basti in Uttar Pradesh.

During the probe, the CIU found that Mishra had received the money allegedly extorted by DCP Tripathi, who was then posted in Mumbai. A complaint filed last December by the Angadia Association in south Mumbai had alleged that Tripathi demanded Rs 10 lakh per month from them as a bribe to allow them to run their business smoothly.

The complaint had initially named three policemen of the Lokmanya Tilak Marg police station. The officers- inspector Om Wangate, API Nitin Kadam and PSI Samadhan Jamdade, and the domestic help of Tripathi, were arrested in the case. The Maharashtra government suspended Tripathi, who is a wanted accused in the extortion case, last month. He is yet to be arrested.

As per the complaint lodged by angadias, the accused officials had allegedly extorted money from them on several occasions in December by threatening to tip off the Income Tax department about their cash movements and business activities.

The angadias' complaint was probed by Additional Commissioner (South Region) Dilip Sawant on directions of the then city police commissioner Hemant Nagrale.

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