The city police today applied Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) charges against private detective Satish Mangle and his wife, who were arrested earlier this month for extorting Rs 1 crore from IAS officer Radheshyam Mopalwar, a senior official said.
Along with the couple, the police also slapped MCOCA charges against gangster Ravi Pujari, who allegedly made threat calls to Mopalwar asking him to withdraw the case lodged against the Mangle couple. The gangster also demanded Rs 7 crore from Mopalwar and threatened that if he failed to pay the money, he and his entire family would be eliminated, the official added.
"IAS officer Radheshaym Mopalwar has been getting threat calls from a person, who identified himself as gangster Ravi Pujari. On November 12, Mopalwar received a call from Pujari, who asked him to withdraw the complaint filed against the Mangles," senior police inspector of Anti Extortion Cell (AEC) of Thane police, Pradeep Sharma, said.
"The caller also demanded Rs 7 crore from Mopalwar and threatened that if he does not pay the money, his entire family would be eliminated," he said.
As this threat falls under the category of organised crimes, the MCOCA has been applied against the Mangle couple, Satish Mangle's associate Atul Tawde and gangster Ravi Pujari, Sharma said.
On November 2, the AEC of Thane police had caught the Mangle couple while accepting Rs 1 crore extortion money from Mopalwar from Dombivali in neighbouring Thane district.
They had threatened to defame the IAS officer using recordings of his purported phone conversations.
Satish Mangle, who works as a private detective, and his wife Shraddha had allegedly demanded Rs 7 crore from him for not releasing those tapes and also to retract their allegations of corruption against him, made earlier.
In August this year, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had removed Mopalwar as the vice-chairman and managing director of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), after some audio recordings, where the officer is purportedly heard 'fixing' a land deal, surfaced.
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