A police head constable and his aide, who posed as a Crime Branch officer, were arrested for allegedly extorting money from drug peddlers, an official said on Tuesday.
Acting on a specific tip-off, unit 12 of the Mumbai Crime Branch arrested Vitthal Dahibaonkar (52), the head constable, and his associate Lakhan Mandal (24) on Monday from the Western Express Highway in suburban Goregaon, he said.
Dahibaonkar, a resident of suburban Santa Cruz, is posted at the Local Arms Division in Worli, while his aide Mandal is an autorickshaw driver.
Mandal posed as a Crime Branch officer and helped Dahibaonkar in extorting money from their targets, the official said.
They were apprehended when they came to extort money from a drug supplier on the pretext of not registering an offence against him, the official said.
Both the accused used to follow Nigerian drug peddlers and drug suppliers in an autorickshaw, he said, explaining their modus operandi.
In one such case, the duo caught a person and demanded Rs 15 lakh in extortion money and later settled for Rs 3 lakh, he said.
The person subsequently filed a complaint at the Dindoshi Police Station.
With the help of CCTV footage, the police traced the autorickshaw used in the crime and nabbed the duo, the official said.
During investigation, it came to light that the accused used the same modus operandi to extort money from others also, he said.
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