The Anti Extortion Cell of the Thane Police Crime Branch has arrested three accused who allegedly provided information about builders and affluent persons in the Thane district to gangster Suresh Pujari, who would then extort money from them.
According to the Thane Police, the arrested accused have been identified as Yash Patil, Vijayprakash Pujarji and Dayanand Pujari. The police zeroed in on the trio while investigating an incident earlier this year where unidentified persons fired a gunshot at the office of an Ulhasnagar builder who had refused to pay extortion money to the gang.
According to police officials, the offence was committed on July 11 this year. The accused walked up to the office of the builder, from whom Pujari had demanded Rs. 2 crore, and fired a single round at the office entrance, but no one was injured. A complaint of attempt to murder was registered with the Central police station in Ulhasnagar and the anti extortion cell was conducting parallel investigations.
“While investigating the case, we learned that there were certain people who were acting as informants for the gang, collecting information about potential targets for extortion and passing it on. We worked further on the information and arrested the three accused on Thursday,” said a Crime Branch officer.
Officials said that Patil is the main informant for the gang, while the other two accused assist him. Patil and Vijayprakash stay in Ulhasnagar, while Dayanand is a Mira Road resident. Investigations have also revealed a hawala network through which Pujari allegedly provides money to his henchmen, sources said.
The police have seized two pistols and five live rounds of ammunition from the accused. They were produced in court and remanded in the Crime Branch’s custody till September 29.
“We have learnt the trio collected information and were going to pass it on to Pujari. We have also identified some people who act as collection agents for Pujari. Efforts are on to apprehend them,” the officer added.
