Two held for extorting from top politicians

New Delhi: Drawing inspiration from a con flick, the Crime Branch team has arrested two persons who extorted money from politicians.

The accused allegedly used to pose as leaders of political parties in power at the Centre and extorted money from ministers, former and sitting MLAs, and ticket hopefuls in the name of party funds and promising them promotion.

The most recent targets of Sanjay Tiwari, who has in the past worked as freelance poet, reciter with All India Radio and also as assistant to an Arunachal Pradesh MP, were Jharkhand minister Amar Kumar Bauri and H.R. Joshan, the ex-Congress MLA from Punjab, whom he promised party tickets for the upcoming polls.

Ravindra Yadav, joint commissioner of police (crime), said Tiwari claimed that he had also tried to extort money from Madan Mohan Mittal, a Punjab minister; MLA Vikas Munda from Jharkhand and also from some politicians from Arunachal. The police said that 40-year-old Tiwari used to work with his accomplice Gaurav Sharma (23).

Tiwari used to cheat his targets by posing as Bharatiya Janata Party national secretary Ram Madhav; national general secretary of BJP, Arun Singh; and senior RSS leader Bhaiyyaji Joshi. He has also posed as Sonia Gandhi’s political aide, Madhavan.

Sharma used to act as Tiwari’s assistant. “Tiwari would pose as a person of great clout of a national political party or some ministry and convince the victim that he could arrange their ascendancy in the party ranks,” said the police.

During interrogation it was found that Tiwari, who was arrested by the Crime Branch last October in a similar case, is the mastermind of the racket.

“He would make intensive research about his targets who had high aspirations and then lure them with temptations of giving tickets, greater role in party or other favours,” said a senior police officer.

Police also claimed that he would usually pose as someone who is related to the ruling party.  The Crime Branch received a complaint on January 24 from Sushant Kumar Mukherjee, PS to Amar Kumar Bauri, minister for revenue, registration and land, Jharkhand. Mr Bauri alleged that a man was calling him for the last three days posing as Ram Madhav and asking him to contribute funds for the upcoming elections.

On January 23, the caller sent a person on his behalf to the Jharkhand Bhawan, who met Mr Bauri and demanded the money. “On verification from the office of Ram Madhav, it was ascertained that no such communication was ever made and it was clear that there are some people who are trying to cheat the minister,” Mr Yadav added.

Tiwari, who is from Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh, is accused in 10 such cases and this is his 11th involvement.