RTI activist booked for extortion bid involving another assault case

Times of India: Pune: Thursday, 27 February 2025.

The Khadak police on Tuesday have registered a case against an RTI activist from Lohiyanagar for alleged attempt to extort Rs 6 lakh from a Ghorpade Peth-based real estate broker (37) on Feb 14.
The real estate broker registered the case against the activist on Tuesday. The 'activist' has four previous criminal cases registered against him with the Chatushrungi, Khadki and Faraskhana police stations, including one of a similar extortion bid, said senior inspector Shashikant Chavan of Khadak police.
Chavan said, "On the night of Feb 13, a group of people held a programme to celebrate the birthday of the broker's uncle. After the programme, his uncle left for Katraj."
"On Feb 14, a distant relative of the broker and another youngster fought in Ghorpade Peth. A formal FIR was registered with the Khadak police station on the same day," he said.
"The complaint was filed by a relative of the RTI activist," he said. "The RTI activist got involved in the case and submitted an application to the police station requesting to book the complainant's uncle in the case even though he was not there," he said.
"Later in the night on Feb 14, the RTI activist met the complainant (real estate broker) and his family members and demanded Rs 6 lakh for not implicating the complainant's uncle in the assault case," he said.
The 'activist' threatened the broker that he would implicate the latter's uncle in a case of assault which would cause legal trouble for him. "The victim runs a small shop in the area," Chavan said.
"We would serve him a notice asking him to cooperate with the investigations," he said.