Extortion case registered against couple for threatening Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik and son Purvesh

THANE: The city police have registered a case of extortion against a couple for allegedly trying to extort money from the local Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik.

Senior Police Inspector N S Bangale of Vartak Nagar police station here said that the complaint has been filed by Sarnaik's son Purvesh, who is the secretary of Yuva Sena, the youth wing of Shiv Sena.

According to Purvesh, a woman who identified herself as Mary Louis, a resident of Australia, befriended him on the Facebook and expressed desire to work for Yuva Sena.

When he met her at a hotel in Mumbai, she demanded Rs one crore from him, threatening to defame him and his family ahead of the coming Assembly elections in Maharashtra if he did not pay up.

Later she and her husband 'Sanjit Sharma' called up Pratap Sarnaik and his other son, corporator Vihang Sarnaik, and threatened that Louis would reveal her alleged relations with Purvesh if the family did not cough up the money, the police officer said.

An offence has been registered under sections 385 (extortion), section 503 (criminal intimidation) and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code. No arrest has been made yet.