BJP worker from Mira Bhayander held for extortion

A BJP worker from Mira Bhayander in the district was arrested for allegedly extorting Rs 5 lakh from a woman, police said today.

The accused, Munaf Patel, is a real estate agent. He was arrested last night following a complaint lodged by the woman, senior police inspector of Naya Nagar police station Balaji Pandhare said.

According to the complaint lodged by the woman, a 56-year-old widow, she had paid Rs 20 lakh to a developer in 2010 to buy a flat in his housing project.

"However, since the developer neither gave possession of the flat to her, nor returned the money, she sought Patel's help. He agreed to help her," the police said quoting the complaint.

However, he soon demanded Rs 7 lakh to pull her out of the situation and warned her that if she failed to pay the money to him, she would never get the property or money from the builder, they said.

Under pressure, she paid Rs 5 lakh to Patel. But on May 5, she got a call from him demanding the remaining Rs 2 lakh from her, police said.

Thereafter, she approached the police and lodged a complaint yesterday, after which he was arrested, Pandhare said.

Patel was booked under IPC section 384 (extortion), he said adding that further investigation into the case is on.