16 July,2019 08:00 AM IST | Mumbai | Diwakar Sharma
Representational picture
The son of a retired senior police inspector was arrested on June 30 in an extortion case registered at Malabar Hill police station. He and an accomplice had posed as police officers and threatened to book the victim unless he paid them.
A senior police officer told mid-day that the 43-year-old prime accused, Samir Shaikh, and his accomplice entered White House building at Malabar Hill, where they threatened a man under the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS).
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"The victim was alone on the afternoon of June 8. The duo told him that they had a tip-off about narcotics substances kept at his house and he would be booked if he did not cough up money. He was petrified and handed them R1.65 lakh cash, after which they disappeared," the officer said.
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After a few minutes the victim, Varun Mehta, 34, realised that he had been cheated and approached the Malabar Hill police, where the case was registered under sections 384 (extortion), 34 (common intention) 447 (criminal trespass) and 416 (personation) of Indian Penal Code against unknown people.
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Based on the technical evidence including CCTV footage, Shaikh was arrested on June 30 from Thane, the officer added.
"Shaikh had been booked in a murder case in 2010. He was out on bail when he committed the offence at Malabar Hill. We have arrested him and his accomplice is still at large. We are on the lookout for him. We are also probing why they zeroed in on White House in Malabar Hill," the officer said. Shaikh's father is a retired senior inspector from Mumbai police and was also in the traffic division.
Also Read: Duo threatens dentist with false case in Santacruz, extorts Rs 2 lakh
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