Mumbai's millionaire hawker accused of extortion, booked under gangster law

The GRP here has invoked the stringent MCOCA against a millionaire hawker accused of extortion, his wife and six other associates, and attached many of his properties, a police official said on Sunday.

The accused, Santosh Kumar Singh alias Bablu Thakur, has properties worth crores, including two high-end cars and a motorcycle, 10 houses in Mumbai, two land plots at his native place in Uttar Pradesh, five acre agricultural land, 1.5 kg gold, insurance policies worth around Rs 10 lakh and cash in about 30 bank accounts, the official said.

Thakur was allegedly involved in extorting money from hawkers at railway stations and he would beat and attack them with sharp weapons if they refused to pay, he said, adding that apart from other provisions, the accused has now also been booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

The accused was running the extortion racket at Dadar, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), Byculla and Kurla railway stations here as well as stations in neighbouring Thane city and Kalyan town, the official said.

Thakur and his wife Rita Singh have multiple cases registered against them and many of them are still pending in court, Dadar Government Railway Police's (GRP) senior inspector Dnyaneshwar Katkar said.

"We have invoked the MCOCA against Thakur, his wife and six other associates and attached their properties. The last case was registered against them under Sections 387 (extortion) and 392 (robbery) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and further investigation is underway, the official said.