Former mayor of Pune Murlidhar Mohol’s name used in Rs 3 crore extortion attempt case
The Pune police informed that a builder was extorted for Rs 3 crore in the name of former mayor of Pune Murlidhar Mohol‘s name, who is also the General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). According to the police, two suspects, Shekhar Gajanan Takwane and Sandeep Pirgonda Patil, were arrested by the crime branch unit 3 of the Pune city police .
The incident took place on March 25 between 12:00 pm and 5:00 pm. The victim of the incident, filed a police complaint in Pune’s Kothrud police station. In his complaint, the victim stated that he received a call from the suspects demanding Rs 3 crore for a program organized by the Youth Wing of the BJP.
The caller ID on the mobile phone showed that the calls belonged to Mohol and his cousin Ravi Atole. Rajesh Vyas immediately informed about the incident and further reported the incident to Sandeep Karnik, Joint Commissioner of police. Upon sharing the incident with the crime branch unit, a trap was laid and Takawane was arrested.
Further to Takawane’s arrest, he was asked to call Patil to ensure that the deal was cracked. Patil changed multiple locations, but the police finally arrested him when he was trying to flee from the spot in his car. The prime suspect, Patil, was jobless and had borrowed Rs 50 lakh during the pandemic. The two suspects knew each other and had hatched a plan on how to use modern technology to dupe people. The police confirmed that neither suspect had any previous criminal record, and further investigation is under process in the case.
