Maharashtra ex-DGP Sanjay Pandey records statement in extortion case

Thane, Dec 11 (PTI) Former Maharashtra DGP Sanjay Pandey recorded his statement on Wednesday in connection with an extortion case registered against him and six others in Thane, a crime branch official said.

Pandey visited the crime branch office in Wagle Estate area in the morning, the official said, adding that the former top cop left after three hours.

"Pandey was in the Crime Branch office for three hours during which his statement was recorded," a crime branch official said.

The case was registered at the Thane Nagar police station on August 26, 2024, on a complaint lodged by Mumbai-based businessman Sanjay Punamiya, against whom two FIRs had been registered during the MVA government's tenure when Pandey was first the DGP and then the Mumbai police commissioner.

In the complaint, Punamiya claimed to have faced “significant troubles” at the hands of the accused between May 2021 and June 30, 2024.

Besides the retired DGP, the FIR has named ex-ACP Sardar Patil, Inspector Manohar Patil, advocate Shekar Jagtap, builder Shyamsunder Agrawa and two others – Subham Agrawal, and Sharad Agrawal — as accused.

According to the complaint, the accused were unlawfully involved in the investigation into a 2016 crime case registered with the Thane Nagar police.

They also threatened the complainant and other businessmen with false cases, extorted money and prepared fabricated documents, while (one of them) posing as a Special Public Prosecutor to mislead courts, it said.

The FIR lists charges under multiple sections of the old IPC, including extortion, criminal conspiracy and false evidence, criminal intimidation, personating a public servant, giving false statements and obstruction of justice, assault, forgery and using forged documents, among others.

The Crime Branch has not arrested any person so far. PTI COR NSK