Pune: Six people have been arrested for allegedly using the phone number of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister. Ajit Pawar | The police on Friday tried to contact a builder in the city and later tried to extort Rs 20 lakh from him.
An official said that the crime branch laid a trap and caught the accused on Thursday taking two lakh rupees from the builder.
According to the police, one of the accused used Pawar’s number on a “fake call” application to call the complainant and pretended to be the deputy chief minister’s staff.
The accused have been identified as Navnath Chormale, Saurabh Kakade, Sunil Waghmare, Kiran Kakade, Chaitanya Waghmare and Akash Nikalje.
“The developer had purchased a parcel of land from Chormale’s grandfather in 1997 after due process. Chormale recently sought compensation from the developer and filed a suit. He told this to Kakade, who was Pawar’s personal assistant. Offered his help by claiming to know him. And promised that he would ask him to call the developer.”
He said that Kakade then used the fake call app and called the developer using Pawar’s phone number.
“The developer’s assistant called on the assumption that it was Pawar making the call. Kakade introduced himself as Pawar’s PA and instructed him to ‘settle’ the matter with Chormale,” the official said.
After learning about the phone call, the developer called Pawar’s PA to confirm, only to find that the call was not made from the deputy chief minister’s phone, he said.
The developer then approached Chormale, who demanded Rs 20 lakh from him to settle the matter.
“The accused was caught red-handed taking Rs 2 lakh. During investigation Kakade disclosed that he had used fake call app and used Pawar’s number.
He said that Chormale, Kakade and four other persons involved in the conspiracy have been arrested under relevant sections of the IPC.
An official said that the crime branch laid a trap and caught the accused on Thursday taking two lakh rupees from the builder.
According to the police, one of the accused used Pawar’s number on a “fake call” application to call the complainant and pretended to be the deputy chief minister’s staff.
The accused have been identified as Navnath Chormale, Saurabh Kakade, Sunil Waghmare, Kiran Kakade, Chaitanya Waghmare and Akash Nikalje.
“The developer had purchased a parcel of land from Chormale’s grandfather in 1997 after due process. Chormale recently sought compensation from the developer and filed a suit. He told this to Kakade, who was Pawar’s personal assistant. Offered his help by claiming to know him. And promised that he would ask him to call the developer.”
He said that Kakade then used the fake call app and called the developer using Pawar’s phone number.
“The developer’s assistant called on the assumption that it was Pawar making the call. Kakade introduced himself as Pawar’s PA and instructed him to ‘settle’ the matter with Chormale,” the official said.
After learning about the phone call, the developer called Pawar’s PA to confirm, only to find that the call was not made from the deputy chief minister’s phone, he said.
The developer then approached Chormale, who demanded Rs 20 lakh from him to settle the matter.
“The accused was caught red-handed taking Rs 2 lakh. During investigation Kakade disclosed that he had used fake call app and used Pawar’s number.
He said that Chormale, Kakade and four other persons involved in the conspiracy have been arrested under relevant sections of the IPC.
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