THREE BOOKED FOR ASSAULTING MAN IN KALYAN

THANE: An offence has been registered againstthreemenfor allegedly kidnapping a man and beating him up after tying him to an electric pole at Kalyan in the district, the police said on Friday.

The alleged accused have been identified as Nikhil Patekar, Bhurya alias Rohit and Sachin Ghorpade, an official said. Patekar, a money lender, had allegedly lent ₹20,000 to the victim at 20% interest a month, he said. The man could not repay theloanandtheinterestamount.

The trio allegedly came to the victim’s house late on Wednesday night, forced him onto a twowheeler and drove him to a spot near Joshi Baug Hindi School in Maharashtra’s Kalyan taluka, the official said.

They tied him to an electric pole and assaulted him with a leather belt and bamboo sticks.

An offence under sections 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 367(kidnapping) andother provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Maharashtra Money Lending Act 2014 has been registered at Mahatma Phule Police station, he said, adding that no arrest has been.

NAVI MUMBAI: The Vashi police have booked a 39-year-old Sangli manforallegedlytryingtoextort ₹5 lakh from his former girlfriend by threatening to circulate their pictures.

The accused started his threats after the woman turned down his marriage proposal.

The woman, who lives with her18-year-oldsonandbrother’s family at a rented apartment, has separated from her alcoholic husband 17 years ago.

Three years ago, she met the accused, a distant relative, at a family wedding in Islampur at Sangli. After exchanging numbers, they started having an affair. The accused would often visit Vashi and sometimes the woman would meet him in Sangli.

“In the past one and a half years, he had been proposing marriage. She refused, citing complication and disrepute in society as he too was married and had kids,” said an officer.

But the man was adamant, so she began to avoid him. Irked by

this, he would call her from different numbers. He recently told her will return to Vashi from Seychelles on November 9.

“He said he will book a hotel and demanded to meet her. He said if I want to get out of this relationship, I will have to pay him ₹ 5 lakh or else, he would circulate our photos taken together,” the woman told the police in her complaint.

The woman lodged a case of extortion and criminal intimidation.