PUNE: A private firm accountant - Sachin Kashinath Gavhane (38) of Rajgurunagar - was arrested on Saturday morning for demanding Rs85 lakh from a senior officer of the Regional Transport Office, Pune, and his wife was booked in the extortion case.
Gavhane also defamed the officer and sent mails to different Regional Transport Office (RTO) officials, criticising the provisions of the Constitution. Inspector Ashwini Satpute of the Bund Garden police said, "The couple demanded Rs85 lakh from the RTO officer and abused him. The RTO officer (57), a resident of Shivajinagar, lodged a complaint with the police on Friday."
The complainant, regional transport officer Ajit Shinde, told TOI, "The arrested man was continuously harassing and pressuring me to collect the money from the RTO officials to pay him Rs85 lakh. I was, in turn, harassing the officials at Pimpri Chinchwad and Pune RTOs. Thus, I decided to register a case against him. Also, he wrongfully criticised the Constitution of India and we did not like it."
Satpute said, "A complaint of cheating was registered against a few RTO officials from Pimpri Chinchwad with the Bhosari police in 2019. Gavhane had transferred his four-wheeler in the name of another person. While transferring the vehicle, the RTO officials committed some errors and the police probed the case. The Pimpri Chinchwad police have sought permission from the state to prosecute these officers."
In the meantime, Gavhane continuously followed up the case and regularly held meetings with the senior RTO officials. In the recent meetings, he promised to withdraw the case if Rs1 crore was paid to him. The matter was settled at Rs85 lakh, the police said.
