Scribe among three held for extorting Ghatkopar eatery owner

An FIR has been lodged against three men, including a scribe, for threatening a bar owner in Ghatkopar.

The incident dates back to last year when Vinod Bomble (27), Rajesh Shishle (26) and Swapnil Charan (26), all posed as journalists and took photographs of Mahendra Shetty's eatery Jassi Veg Restaurant and Bar, where he ran an illegal hookah parlour. The trio then threatened to expose his business and demanded Rs 2 lakh to keep shut.

"They asked me to make them partners in the business and pay Rs 2 lakh, failing which they said they would expose me in their news channel," said Shetty.

Having enough of their harassment, Shetty decided to shut his restaurant and only to open it again three months later after getting the licence. "But, they continued harassing me. This week they once again came to my bar and demanded Rs 50,000. But, I decided to shoot the entire thing on my camera and show it to the police," Shetty added.

When the Pant Nagar police was investigating the case, they learnt that Bomble, who sells flowers in the area, already has an extortion case registered against him at the same station. Bomble, however, claims that he also works for a newspaper.

Speaking to mid-day, a relative, on condition of anonymity, said, "Bomble is a reporter with a small time weekly publication and the other two are students."

Police sources said, "They are neither reporters, nor part of any media house. They have been harassing the bar owner for quite a while. FIR has been lodged, and the accused have been arrested."