Mubarak Ansari
Wakad, 4th July 2021: Pimpri Chinchwad Police have arrested the business partner of art director Rajesh Maruti Sapte (51) for abetting his suicide by cheating and fraud. Four others have been booked for threatening him and demanding extortion for his projects.
Sapte was found hanging at his residence in Tathawade on July 2. He had released a video of harassment before taking the extreme step.
Based on a complaint from his wife, an FIR was registered at Wakad police station on Saturday night. The accused persons named in the FIR are Naresh Vishwakarma (Mistry), Gangeshwar Srivastava (Sanjubhai), labour union leader Rakesh Maurya, Ashok Dubey and Chandan Ramkrishna Thakre (36), all residents of Mumbai. Thakre has been arrested, police said.
According to police, Thakre was the business partner of Sapte and duped him in various projects. The other accused demanded Rs 10 lakh extortion money besides Rs one lakh for every project. They had also forcefully taken Rs 2.5 lakh from him.
In the video, Sapte can be heard saying, “My name is Raju Sapte and I am an Art director. I’m making this video to the best of my knowledge. For the past few days, I’m being harassed by Rakesh Maurya of the labour union. I have paid all my dues to the labourers. Maurya is putting hindrance to my work by provoking the labour and inciting them against me. Even after paying all the dues to the labour people, Maurya is not letting me do my work. This has put most of my projects on hold. Currently, I have five projects in my hand. But Maurya is provoking labourers against me, because of that, I can’t start any work. Most of my projects are stuck and as a protest against this, I am committing suicide today.”
Police have charged the accused persons for offences under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 306 (abetment of suicide), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 506 (criminal intimidation), 384 (extortion), 385, 386 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Assistant Police Inspector Lohar is further investigating the case.
