Nagpur: In a significant breakthrough, the Anti-Extortion Cell of Nagpur Crime Branch has successfully apprehended two individuals involved in an extortion plot. The suspects were arrested for attempting to extort a sum of Rs 40 lakh from Dr. Sunil Motiramji Lanjewar, a respected resident of Ramdaspeth.
The accused have been identified as Harshad Narendra Hatwar (32), a resident of Manish Nagar and Shubham Sanjay Madavi (29), a resident of Takiya, Dhantoli. Harshad works as a web developer in his brother’s company while Shubham is a recovery agent with a bank.
According to police, the two hatched a conspiracy to extort money from doctors four months ago. They purchased a second hand mobile phone from a youth with a Sim card at just Rs 1,000. Then they searched for a list of prominent doctors in the city and zeroed in on four doctors. However, the first three did not respond to their phone calls while Dr Lanjewar responded to the call.
Dr Lanjewar (65), who runs the renowned Dadasaheb Lanjewar Hospital in Sriman Complex, Janata Chowk, was demanded Rs 40 lakh extortion by the accused. The threatening call came from a mobile number identified as 9890087241 on May 15, at approximately 4:30 pm. The two spoke in Hindi and warned Dr Lanjewar that failure to comply with the demand would lead to dire consequences.
Alarmed by the seriousness of the threat, Dr Lanjewar promptly lodged a complaint with the Sitabuldi police. Recognising the severity of the situation, the police registered a case of extortion and immediately initiated an investigation into the matter. However, the ordeal did not end there for Dr Lanjewar. On May 21, he received yet another call from the same individual, reiterating the demand for Rs 40 lakh and issuing threats to his life. To make an impact, they captured a picture of Dr Lanjewar’s house and forwarded it to his number.
Dr Lanjewar promptly informed Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar about the new threat. Responding swiftly to the doctor’s plea for help, the CP deployed a 24-hour armed police force to provide security at both Dr Lanjewar’s residence and his hospital premises. Working on technical details, the police zeroed in on the accused and arrested them on Saturday. The accused will be produced in the court on Sunday.
Under the guidance of DCP (Crime Branch in-charge) Archit Chandak, DCP Zone II Rahul Madne, the arrest was made by PI Sarin Durge, API Ishwar Jagdale, PSIs Balram Zadokar, Vijay Nemade and staff including Chetan Jadhav, Nitin Wasne, Chandrashekhar Raghorte, Ananta Kshirsagar, Mithun Naik, Parag Dhok, Purushottam Naik, Santosh Jadhav, Prashant Bhoyar and Raman Khaire.
