Mumbai Fraud: Man Posing as BMC Official Held for Demanding Bribe Over Debris in Juhu

Man arrested for allegedly impersonating BMC official and demanding money from a musician over debris dumped outside his residence during renovation work. Accused is a former clean-up marshal, who demanded Rs. 15,000 was arrested by the Juhu police. This incident occurred on Monday April 6,2026. For the past 15 days, Arvind Mehra, 71, a Juhu-based music industry professional, has been renovating his flat, with debris temporarily stored within the society compound after informing the society and obtaining permission. Mehra's staff, Ramprasad Sharma, 59, reported that a man claiming to be a BMC employee approached him over the last four days, warning of a Rs. 1.5 lakh fine for illegal dumping and suggesting a "settlement" to avoid it.

On the morning of April 6, building security guard Dharmendra Kumar alerted Mehra that BMC officials were addressing debris on the property. A staff member discovered a man near the debris who identified himself as a BMC officer, presented an ID, and requested to meet the flat owner. The man was escorted to Mehra's seventh-floor flat, where he stated that Mehra faced a potential ₹1.5 lakh fine for the debris and offered to "settle" the matter. He then requested to inspect the flat and entered. He allegedly offered to waive the fine in exchange for ₹15,000, which aroused suspicion, and Mehra contacted the police.

A beat marshal questioned the suspect, Kevan Kiran Joshi, 36, who initially presented a BMC ID identifying him as a K West ward supervisor. However, he later admitted that he was not currently a BMC employee but had previously worked as a clean-up marshal before the initiative was discontinued. Based on a complaint filed by Mehra's staff member, Ramprasad Sharma, Juhu police arrested Joshi and registered a case against him under Sections 324(4) (criminal trespass) and 204 (personating a public servant) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhit