Lawyer, RTI activist accused of extortion in Nagpur

Nagpur city police has registered a complaint of extortion against a lawyer and a RTI activist for allegedly demanding Rs 30 lakh from the owner of an advertising agency.

Nagpur: Nagpur city police has registered a complaint of extortion against a lawyer and a Right To Information (RTI) activist for allegedly demanding Rs 30 lakh from the owner of an advertising agency.

Police said that advocate Shrikant Khandalkar and RTI activist Sanjay Agarwal had allegedly demanded the money from Shailen Shashkant Mehta, who has won the contract for beautification and setting up of food shops on the banks of Futala lake here. After obtaining some information under the RTI Act, they approached Mehta accusing him of violation of development rules and threatened to file a public interest litigation if he did not pay them Rs 30 lakh. Mehta recorded the conversation on dictaphone and lodged a complaint last night with Sitaburdi Police Station here, following which offence under section 385 of IPC (extortion) was registered. No arrest has been made so far. PTI