MCOCA dropped, bizman names ex-Mumbai CP Param Bir in complaint; case transferred to ACP (crime)

In a setback to the city crime branch, the stringent MCOCA invoked against a businessman and his two family members, has been dropped, prompting him to file a complaint against former Mumbai top cop Param Bir Singh, a builder, and two officers of the Anti-Extortion Cell for allegedly pressuring him for extortion, an official said on Sunday.

In a setback to the city crime branch, the stringent MCOCA invoked against a businessman and his two family members, has been dropped, prompting him to file a complaint against former Mumbai top cop Param Bir Singh, a builder, and two officers of the Anti-Extortion Cell for allegedly pressuring him for extortion, an official said on Sunday. Recently, the businessman, Hemant Bankar, met with Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey, who transferred his case to ACP (crime), following which his statement was recorded. Sources said that crime branch officers could not find any Underworld connections of Bankar and dropped the MCOCA charge. Bankar had made the allegations against a builder, two Mumbai Police officers and others for allegedly filing a false extortion case against him and threatening to book him under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act. After Pandey transferred the case to ACP (crime,) Bankar's statement was recorded against builder Kailash Aggarwal and others. In his complaint, Banker claimed that after being implicated and given bail in a false case in 2021, he was called to the Crime Branch office several times where some officers tried to pressure him to settle the case and threatened to invoke MCOCA if he didn't agree.

Securing bail is difficult if a person is booked under MCOCA.

The complainant further stated that the then Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh was aware of the matter.

Bankar also named two AEC officers in his complaint. He alleged that they had asked him to settle the matter with builder Aggarwal or else MCOCA will be invoked against him and his family members, as per the complaint. When Bankar did not agree to their demands, MCOCA was invoked and he was arrested.

"MCOCA against Bankar has been revoked which proves that my client was framed in a false extortion case. We have filed a complaint against builder Kailash Aggarwal, who had cheated, threatened and extorted money from my client. The police officers acted at his behest. We have requested the police to look into the case as per merit. We have all the proofs against the accused," said Bankar's lawyer Asif Ali Khan.

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