Five arrested for kidnapping, attempting to extort money from two men in Thane district

Thane, May 25 (PTI) Five members of a gang have been arrested for allegedly abducting and attempting to extort money from a 60-year-old estate agent and his friend in Maharashtra’s Thane district.

Based on a complaint, the police on Friday arrested four women and a man in a case registered against them under sections 364A (kidnapping for ransom), 384 (extortion) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, senior inspector Rahulkumar Patil of the Kashigaon police station said.

The complainant received a call from a woman seeking a job, and he was called to a hotel on May 21, an official said.

While discussing job possibilities, the accused started shooting a video of the complainant and a friend who had accompanied him, he said.

Suspecting that something was amiss, the two men left the premises but were forced into a waiting autorickshaw and taken to Gorai, he said.

In Gorai, three women and a man beat up the complainant and his friend, he said.

The accused allegedly demanded money from them and took them to an ATM where they could not withdraw money, he said.

The men were then taken to Borivali, where the accused threatened that they would not be released unless they coughed up Rs 1 lakh, the official said.

The accused threatened to lodge false rape complaints against the duo and make their videos viral on social media, and then released them in the early hours of May 22, he said.

With the help of CCTV footage and intelligence inputs, the police apprehended Sonali Mahendra Mahale (28), Nisha Nagesh Gaikwad (45), her daughter Darshana (22), sister Deepa Rohit Prajapati (38), and Mallik Ahmed Fakki (24), the official said.