PANAJI
Amid the ongoing protest by villagers of Sarvan-Karapur against the proposed Lodha project in Bicholim, the Mumbai Police have arrested two members of the agitation for allegedly demanding Rs 6 crore in extortion and forcibly obtaining Rs 41 lakh from the House of Abhinandan Lodha (HoABL).
As per the report, the Anti-Extortion Unit of the Mumbai police (NM Joshi Marg Police Station) have arrested Siddhesh Jana Tari and Pritesh Salgaonkar, who are allegedly associated with the agitation that began nearly 150 days ago against the project. “The arrests were reportedly carried out in Dodamarg, Maharashtra during the investigation,” the police said.
Since HoABL has its head office in Mumbai, the complaint was registered there. The complaint was filed by Bhushan Patil, 39, a liaisoning agent working for HoABL. Patil stated that he and his colleague Vinod Hire were responsible for securing government permissions and facilitating the execution of work related to the company's ‘One Goa’ project at Bicholim.
According to the FIR, during the last week of April, Tari and Salgaonkar allegedly visited the project site, abused Patil and his colleagues and confronted them over the project. The duo allegedly accused the company of treating local residents unfairly and threatened to prevent completion of the project.
The complainant alleged that the two claimed the protest against the project was also being conducted at their behest. When Patil sought clarification about their demands, Tari allegedly demanded Rs 3 crore each for himself and Salgaonkar.
Although the company's senior management initially refused to pay, maintaining that its activities were legal, it subsequently agreed to pay Rs 10 lakh each, allegedly fearing disruption to the project.
The FIR states that on May 1, the accused allegedly received an initial instalment of Rs 2 lakh each and assured the company that they would not create further problems.
However, Patil alleged that the accused allegedly sought additional payments, claiming that the money was required to be distributed among the protesters.
The complaint further alleges that the company eventually paid Rs 34 lakh to Tari and Rs 7 lakh to Salgaonkar.
