Officers of the anti-extortion cell (AEC) of Mumbai Police’s crime branch have arrested a 33-year-old Dharavi-based tea stall owner for allegedly trying to extort Rs 35 Crore from filmmaker Mahesh Manjrekar. The tea stall owner was claiming to be Abu Salem. The accused told police that he lost his livelihood during the pandemic and came up with the idea.
According to the police the accused Milind Balkrishna Tulsankar's tea business was shut down in the lockdown so he had no other means of earning. Tulsankar moved to his village Khed in Konkan as COVID-19 cases in Dharavi began to rise. But he failed to earn money or find a job there.
The accused claimed that he was fascinated by how the underworld gangster Abu Salem used to extort money from Bollywood celebrities. Tulsankar also said he watched multiple videos of Abu Salem and chose to target filmmaker Mahesh Manjrekar.
Tulsankar first called Manjrekar on 23 August, but since the filmmaker did not take the call, he left two threatening messages demanding Rs 35 crore through hawala. The accused had also mentioned a hawala operator’s name, Abdul Rashid, in the message, said a police officer.
Manjreker lodged a complaint with Dadar police station but considering the seriousness of the matter AEC took it up and started the investigation.
Inspectors Ajay Sawant, Sachin Kadam and assistant inspector Raju Surve’s team analysed the caller’s details and found his location. Following this, Tulsankar was detained and brought to Mumbai on Thursday.
After he admitted to the crime, he was arrested. He further said that he was aware that Salem was in jail and that some gangsters operate their business from jails. He was produced before a local court on Thursday and has been remanded in police custody till 2 September. It has not bene established so far if the accused has any connection with Abu Salem.
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