A private detective and his wife have been arrested for allegedly extorting money from a suspended IAS officer in Maharashtra. Thane Police’s Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) caught the couple red-handed at their rented flat in Dombivli on Thursday when they were accepting the Rs 1 crore ‘extortion money’.
According to a PTI report, the accused Satish Mangle and his wife Shraddha had been blackmailing the IAS officer Radheshyam Mopalwar, who was on leave due to allegations of corruption against him. The detective couple had threatened to defame him by leaking the recordings of his phone calls. Earlier, they had demanded a sum of Rs 10 crore from him but later agreed to Rs 7 crore so as to ‘settle the matter’.
On October 31, the couple met him at a five-star hotel in Mumbai where they threatened to hire goons to kill him and his daughter if Mopalwar failed to pay the extortion amount, reports IANS
In August, Mopalwar who was the vice-chairman and managing director of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) was removed from his post by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. After he was ousted, Mangle leaked a few of his audio clips in which the bureaucrat was heard fixing a deal for a plot, reports NDTV.
The arrest
Mangle and his wife were arrested after a police constable was sent in disguise to their flat with Rs 1 crore. Police have recovered two laptops, 15 CDs, five mobile handsets, four pen-drives, and other incriminating documents from the accused.
Mangle, who has studied till class 10 dropped out of diploma in computer management. He later started his working as a private detective. There are several cases of extortion and phone tapping registered against him, reports The Times of India.
(Feature image is representational | Source: AFP)