Mumbai: 5 Including Woman Booked for Extorting Rs 14.5 Lakh from Developer in Kandivali

The Samta Nagar police in Kandivali have registered a case against five individuals, including a woman, for allegedly extorting ₹14.50 lakh from the chairman of a developer company and demanding an additional ₹50 lakh to allow the continuation of an SRA (Slum Rehabilitation Authority) project in the area.

Based on a complaint filed by Ravindra Jadhav, the legal advisor of Damodar Suruchi Developer Private Limited, the accused—Amar Bahadur Yadav, Govind Pawar, Balakrishna Palkar, Vishnu Pawar, and Divya Vichare—have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The developer company has been working on an SRA project in Hanuman Nagar, Kandivali (East), since 2013. The construction of the buildings under the SRA scheme was completed, and the developer was in the process of handing over flats to the slum residents.

According to the complaint, the accused had been demanding money from the developer since 2013, threatening to halt construction work. Between May 2013 and December 2019, the company paid a total of ₹14.60 lakh to one of the accused, Govind Pawar, via cheques to ensure smooth progress of the project. The FIR states that Pawar allegedly distributed the money among the other accused.

In March 2024, when the SRA component of the project was nearing completion, the company’s chairman, Dinesh Bansal, visited the site. The accused allegedly demanded ₹50 lakh from Bansal and threatened to disrupt the work if their demand was not met.

Despite the company paying ₹8 lakh in April, the accused reportedly created chaos at the construction site, misbehaving with workers and disrupting operations.

During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the accused allegedly put up defamatory banners against the company’s chairman and instigated slum residents to create tension in the area.

After months of attempts to resolve the issue, the company approached the police, leading to the registration of a case against the accused. They have been booked under sections related to extortion, fraud, defamation, verbal abuse, and criminal breach of trust.