Four people have been arrested in Mumbai for offering a BJP MLA a "cabinet berth" in return for Rs 100 crore. Rahul Kul, the MLA from Maharashtra's Daund constituency, had filed a complaint against one of the four accused with the Mumbai Police's Anti-Extortion Cell.
The police said, on July 16, the MLA's aide Balakrishna Thorat received a call from Delhi's Riyaz Shaikh seeking a meeting with the MLA. He met the MLA in south Mumbai's five-star hotel and offered him a plum post in lieu of the said amount. He said they were in contact with some top politicians in the national capital.
The MLA pretended to be buying into his offer and bargained down the amount to Rs 90 crore. He pretended to accept the deal and lodged a police complaint.
On Monday afternoon the MLA and his colleague called the accused on the pretext of finalizing the deal to a hotel where the accused were arrested.
The police have arrested four people -- Shaikh of Kolhapur, Zafar Ahmed Usman, and Sagar Sangwai, both of Mumbai, and Yogesh Kulkarni of Thane.
They have been sent to police custody. Efforts are on to find out whether the gang sold such ministerial posts to other MLAs or not.
With inputs from IANS
