Both Gopale, Korke played active role in Param Bir Singh extortion case: CID

CID tells court police inspector Asha Korke was involved in collecting extortion money from complainant’s nephew; gets custody of duo

The Killa court on Tuesday sent police inspectors Nandkumar Gopale and Asha Korke, arrested in connection with the extortion case linked to former police commissioner Param Bir Singh, in the state CID’s custody for seven days. The duo played an active role in this case, the agency told the court.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Maharashtra had arrested Gopale and Korke on Monday. In the court, it said the alleged extortions were done at the behest of Singh. Deputy Commissioner of Police Akbar Pathan and businessman Sanjay Punamiya are also accused in the case registered at Marine Drive police station in July, on the complaint of realtor Shyam Sunder Agarwal.

Advocate Shekhar Jagtap, the special public prosecutor, told the court that Korke and Gopale met Sharad Agarwal, nephew of Shyam Sunder, in Mira-Bhayandar and asked him to pay up to avoid his uncle’s arrest. Korke had sent a person to collect the extortion money from Sharad, said the advocate. She sent a WhatsApp message containing a photo of '10 note to Sharad, and asked him to hand over the money to the person who showed him this picture.

The duo also helped Punamiya and another accused Sunil Jain, who were arrested earlier. According to the remand copy, when Gopale raided Shyam Sunder’s house, he told him to pay '50 lakh to avoid arrest. Gopale had also asked him to meet Pathan at his office. Commenting on the transactions, Gopale’s lawyer Aniket Nikam said his client was not directly involved in the matter and that he was just following the instructions.

“Nowhere in the FIR is it mentioned that the money was given to Gopale. The case was registered in July, after Singh was removed from the police chief’s post on March 17. Gopale has done so much good work, and was also awarded. There is no link of Gopale in this matter,” Nikam told mid-day.

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