Thane, Oct 24 The Navi Mumbai Police have invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against an extortion syndicate operating under the guise of RTI activism, officials said on Saturday.
Joint Commissioner of Police Deepak Sakore granted a prior sanction under Section 23(1)(a) of MCOCA on October 21 to prosecute Tribhuvan Lalbihari Singh and his associates for allegedly blackmailing, threatening, and extorting real estate developers across the region.
The action is in relation to a criminal case registered at Rabale police station on September 29, police said.
The case was filed following a detailed written complaint by a 52-year-old builder from Digha in Navi Mumbai, who operates ongoing construction projects.
The main accused has been arrested, while his son is named as a wanted accused in the case.
The accused allegedly extorted Rs 1.35 lakh from the builder, police said.
Following the initial complaint, Rabale Police booked the accused under Sections 308(5), 351(2), 352, and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
A review of police records showed that Tribhuvan Singh has a habitual criminal history across Rabale, Rabale MIDC, Kalwa, and other police stations, with at least seven major cases registered against him in the past decade, establishing a continuous pattern of unlawful gang activity that justified invoking MCOCA provisions, police said.
(PTI News)
