Vashi police arrest two for extortion from spa owner

NAVI MUMBAI:The Vashi police have arrested two of the four men from Kalyan who extorted money from a woman running a spa, threatening to expose that the outlet allegedly indulged in the flesh trade.

The accused used a letter head in the name of a ‘Shivaji Pratishthan’ and threatened to file fake cases against the spa owner to avoid which they demanded money. In the process of extortion, the accused had also molested the complainant. The FIR was registered on Sunday night after the 23 year old complainant who ran a spa at sector 30, Vashi, approached the police with the complaint.

“The four men carried a notice with letter head of ‘Shivaji Pratishthan’ which mentioned that it’s head office was in Sangli. The accused first approached the complainant on April 25 with a threat that they would register a fake complaint against her spa stating that she ran flesh trade on the pretext of operating a spa and to avoid the same, they demanded ₹15,000 every month. The accused also claimed to have shut two such spas in Kalyan. They asked her to think over it and left.

Later they made her various calls and had asked her to meet outside Vashi railway station too. The four of them made her sit in a car on the pretext to discuss the money and outraged her modesty,” senior police inspector Shashikant Chandekar from Vashi Police Station said.

On Sunday the accused visited her again and forced her to pay ₹5,000 on Google pay after which the complainant visited the police station and registered the complaint. The two arrested accused have been identified as Ganesh Gopal Govekar (26) and Akshay Yashwant Sonawane (27). Their accomplices who are at large, have been identified Ritik Kedar and Sahil Patankar.

The police are investigating if the accused have any criminal background and if they have extorted money in the similar way from any other people.