6 held for Rs 30 L extortion bid on builder

The arrested suspects were identified as Pramod Modak (22), Santosh Guttedar (26), Shakil Yalagi (25), Sagar Nikalaje (20), Salim Shaikh (24) and Sardar Patil (34).

Not so easy: The suspects at the police commissionerate yesterday. The police said they posed as Chhota Rajan's men in the city. Pic/Krunal Gosavi

"On June 11, the suspects called the builder's wife and son on their cell phones saying they were calling from the Chhota Rajan gang," Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Anant Shinde said.

"They posed as collection men of the gang and demanded Rs 30 lakh as protection money." He said they also told the builder's wife they would shoot her husband if their demands were not met and warned her not inform the police.

The builder alerted the anti-extortion cell and Senior Police Inspector Sachin Sawant of the cell started the investigation. "As our investigation was on, our Police Constable Anant Dalvi got a tip-off that the suspects were preparing to loot a petrol pump in Warje Malwadi on Tuesday night.

We laid a trap and nabbed the suspects, who were armed with sharp weapons and hockey sticks," Sawant said. Sustained interrogation led them to confess that they had threatened a city builder. u00a0"They also confessed to attacking another city-based builder with a sharp weapon in Sangavi on June 13," Sawant said.u00a0