A developer was arrested while an ATS officer and two actresses from the Marathi film industry were booked for their alleged attempt to extort Rs. 15 lakh from a 28-year-old aspiring actor, citing a molestation case lodged against him by one of the suspects.
The Sahakarnagar police in Pune identified the developer as Ram Jagdale. “In September last year, one of the two actresses, who had worked with the actor in a Marathi film, had lodged a molestation complaint with the Wanowrie police. The actor was later arrested and released on bail,” an officer from the crime branch of the Pune police said.
After the incident, the actor had submitted a complaint stating that the actress had implicated him in a false case. “On September 28 last year, the developer summoned the actor to his office in the Parvati area for a compromise. When the complainant reached the office with one of his relatives, Jagdale, the actress and the sub-inspector of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) were present there,” the officer said.
He said, they forced the actor to tender an apology and recorded it. “The ATS officer and the actress also demanded Rs. 15 lakh from the actor by threatening to make the video clip viral,” the officer said, adding, “The actor and his relative were forced to sit in the office for three hours.”
In his complaint with the Sahakarnagar police, the actor stated that the ATS officer had accepted Rs. 1 lakh from him in September last year and had also threatened him with a pistol. “He had also issued threats of throwing acid on the complainant and implicating him in a false case,” the officer said.
The actor later found out that his clip was already doing the rounds of the social media. “He found that another actress, who is currently based in Dubai, had made it viral, prompting him to lodge a complaint against her too,” the officer said.
The suspects have been booked under sections 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of Indian Penal Code.