Court rejects absconding DCP's bail plea in extortion case

A sessions court on Wednesday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of suspended IPS officer Saurabh Tripathi who is accused of plotting extortion from angadias or traditional couriers carrying cash and gold.

- Rebecca Samervel

Mumbai: During arguments opposing his plea, public prosecutor Abhijeet Gondwal had submitted to court that three arrested policemen in the case have said they acted on Tripathi’s orders and that the senior officer had tried to influence the preliminary inquiry.

However, Tripathi’s lawyer Aniket Nikam called the extortion allegations “fake and motivated” and claimed that it was because his client did not succumb to pressure from “mediators of illegal hawala operators working as angadia association” and ordered action against all hawala dealers that the association made false accusations against him.

He said the entire premise of the prosecution’s case is that of “theft occurring at the thieves’ house”.