Inspector reporting to top cop held for extorting 'paanwalas'

The Goregaon police on Saturday arrested Bhaskar Dhere, a police inspector attached to the CB Control unit of the Mumbai Police, one of its most elite wings, for extorting money from two paan shop owners.

According to the police, Dhere visited complainant Shafique Shaikh’s shop in Goregaon’s Jawahar Nagar on July 5. He accused Shaikh of selling fake gutkha brands and said he would take action against him. He told him that he would have to serve five years behind bars. Dhere then demanded money from Shaikh. In his complaint, Shaikh told the police that he arranged Rs1.40 lakh, which Dhere took from him and left.

“Shaikh is a committee member of an association of paan shop owners. He alerted all paan shop owners and asked them to inform him if any police officer tried to extort money from them,” said police inspector Sambhaji Shinde of the Goregaon police.

He added: “On July 9, Shaikh received a call from a paan shop owner in Malad. He told him that a police officer had taken Rs20,000 from him by threatening him in a similar manner. Shaikh alerted a beat marshal, who intercepted Dhere and asked him to take his vehicle to the Dindoshi police chowky. At the chowky, police officers said that the complaint was with the Goregaon police station. Dhere was taken there and then arrested.”

Shaikh’s complaint was against four people including Dhere. The police are yet to find the other three, who are also suspected to be policemen from the CB Control unit.

“The cash that Dhere had taken from the Malad-based paan shop owner was found in his vehicle, and thus the Goregaon police took immediate action against him,” said Ramrao Pawar, additional commissioner of police, north region.

Dhere was produced in court on Sunday. It remanded him in police custody till July 13. The police will further interrogate Dhere to know details about his accomplices.

The CB Control unit of the Mumbai Police deals with violation of orders issued by the central and state governments in connection with essential commodities. Officers from this branch used to report to the deputy commissioner of police (enforcement), who would report to the joint commissioner of police (crime).

But since the present commissioner of police Arup Patnaik took charge, he detached the branch from the crime branch and asked its officers to report to him directly. Posting in this branch is said to be a coveted one.