06 August,2014 07:20 AM IST | | Saurabh Vaktania
The assistant inspector, who escaped the trap laid by the ACB, was part of an extensive plan of extortion, along with another cop, builder and a local goon
An official from Khar police station who managed to escape from the trap laid by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday evening is allegedly involved in several cases of extortion.
According to the police, two officers from Khar police, API Subhash Samant who escaped the trap, another inspector Mahendra Nerlekar, a builder Vijay Arora, his driver Mahesh Kamble and a local goon active in Khar and Bandra, Robin Gonsalves, are all wanted in the extortion case by the ACB.
Pawar went to Samant's house with a witness, and the ACB team was hiding outside his door, waiting for the complainant's signal
Sources from the police station said both officers had been cautioned by their seniors that they were under surveillance, but they ignored the warnings.
Setting the trap
According to the cops, the builder, Arora, had been trying various ways to make the complainant, Sanjay Pawar, a real estate agent and an RPI leader, vacate a flat in one of his buildings that served as his office.
But, when Pawar signalled the officers after handing him the money, Samant smelt a rat. He rushed to the door and closed it from inside
When all his attempts failed, he got in touch with Samant and Nerlekar through Kamble and Gonsalves. Samant is a bodybuilder and weightlifter. According to the plan, on June 4, Arora took the complainant to his farmhouse in Dahanu on the pretext of a party.
Rushing past the complainant, Samant jumped out of the window of his first-floor flat and escaped. Illustrations/Amit Bandre
He then recorded a video of Pawar in an inebriated state, with three young girls. A week ago, inspector Samant called the complainant and said he had received a complaint against him from a college girl, alleging gang rape. He asked the real estate agent to pay him Rs 50 lakh, along with papers of the flat.The agent negotiated the first instalment to Rs 10 lakh and informed the ACB, who laid the trap on Monday evening.
Vishwas Nangre Patil, additional commissioner of police, ACB, said, "Pawar was sent to Samant's house at police quarters in Carter Road, along with a witness. We prepared a bundle with 20 thousand-rupee notes on top and bottom and white papers in the middle."
As per the plan, the complainant went to Samant's house and gave the bundle to him. A team from ACB, was hiding outside his door, waiting for a signal from the duo. However, as Pawar signalled the officers, Samant smelt a rat. He rushed to the door and closed it from inside. As officials were trying to break in, he jumped out from the window of his first-floor flat and managed to escape.
Patil added, "Nerlekar was on night duty on Monday and was on his way home when he learnt about the trap, and managed to escape as well. However, we have enough evidence against the five accused to prove the case. We also have two-and-a-half hours of recording between the complainant and Samant, and we have recovered the clips and the complaint against Pawar, which are all fake.
The accused will be caught soon." Sources from Khar police station said that the two inspectors have extorted money from many influential people in the past from Khar and Bandra area. During their raid, ACB also found four unaccounted live rounds from Samant's house. Many victims are expected to come forward.
