PUNE: Three persons, including two PMC corporators, were arrested on Saturday for an alleged bid to extort money to the tune of over Rs one crore from a builder, who too has landed in police net on charges of securing bank loan of over Rs 300 crore with forged documents.

The corporators, Anil Jadhav and Shankar Pawar, along with one Satish Dhotre were nabbed by the anti-extortion cell headed by inspector Bhanupratap Barge on Saturday afternoon.

The police action followed a complaint lodged by a city construction firm owned by Pradip Runwal alleging that the corporators tried to coerce him into paying an amount of over Rs one crore.

Police arrested Runwal and three others last night after complaints that his firm - Amrut Runwal Multi-Housing Pvt Ltd.- forged Power of Attorney (POA) to mortgage land owned by many farmers in Manjri near here, to get bank loan of over Rs 300 crore.

The corporators who were aware of the illegal dealings of the construction firm with regard to bank loan, later tried to extort money from the builder threatening to expose him, police said.