Times of
India: Ahmedabad: Saturday, 3rd Feb 2024.
The self-proclaimed RTI activist, Mahendra Nanu Patel, arrested on Sunday for extorting Rs 66 lakh from a Surat school trustee, faces two additional FIRs. The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the CID (Crime and Railways) had initially booked Patel in an extortion case on January 28. The latest complaints accuse him of cheating and extorting other school trustees in Surat.
In the first complaint with the CID (Gandhinagar Zone), Arun Akbari from Amreli accused Patel of extorting Rs 39 lakh. Akbari, who runs schools in Kadodara and Velanja in Surat, disclosed that he filled an online form in 2015 to obtain approval for an English-medium school. “Patel came to my school with the online form I filled with the state education department. He arrived in a car with sporting a ‘Government of Gujarat’ plate. He demanded Rs 13 lakh to sanction the request. I paid the amount,” he told police.
Later in 2016, Patel allegedly threatened and extorted Rs 10 lakh from Akbari, claiming he would implicate him in a forged documents case. In 2017, Patel allegedly extorted Rs 16 lakh from Akbari when he intended to open another school.
Another school trustee, Mahendra Jeram Patel, from Katargam filed a complaint with the EOW, stating that Patel took Rs 8 lakh from him in April 2022, promising approval for a primary school in Surat.
Despite the payment, he did not receive any sanction.
The self-proclaimed RTI activist, Mahendra Nanu Patel, arrested on Sunday for extorting Rs 66 lakh from a Surat school trustee, faces two additional FIRs. The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the CID (Crime and Railways) had initially booked Patel in an extortion case on January 28. The latest complaints accuse him of cheating and extorting other school trustees in Surat.
In the first complaint with the CID (Gandhinagar Zone), Arun Akbari from Amreli accused Patel of extorting Rs 39 lakh. Akbari, who runs schools in Kadodara and Velanja in Surat, disclosed that he filled an online form in 2015 to obtain approval for an English-medium school. “Patel came to my school with the online form I filled with the state education department. He arrived in a car with sporting a ‘Government of Gujarat’ plate. He demanded Rs 13 lakh to sanction the request. I paid the amount,” he told police.
Later in 2016, Patel allegedly threatened and extorted Rs 10 lakh from Akbari, claiming he would implicate him in a forged documents case. In 2017, Patel allegedly extorted Rs 16 lakh from Akbari when he intended to open another school.
Another school trustee, Mahendra Jeram Patel, from Katargam filed a complaint with the EOW, stating that Patel took Rs 8 lakh from him in April 2022, promising approval for a primary school in Surat.
Despite the payment, he did not receive any sanction.
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