Rajkot: Hot on the heels of a crackdown in Junagadh, an alleged racket involving extortionists posing as journalists and threatening businesses with enforcement actions by the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) officials has surfaced in Rajkot district.A complaint alleging conspiracy, criminal intimidation and extortion was filed against Hemant Shekhwa, Rakesh Pithadiya, Vijay Verma and Ajay Jadhav at Udhognagar police station in Jetpur by Mahesh Gajera, the proprietor of a saree manufacturing unit located near Rabari Chokdi.Gajera said that eight months ago a drainage line in his factory got clogged, causing wastewater to overflow outside the premises. Exploiting the spill, three of the accused — Shekhwa, Pithadiya and Verma — came to the site claiming to be mediapersons and filmed the unit. They allegedly threatened to circulate footage on social media and threatened that GPCB intervention would lead to the immediate closure of the unit.The trio initially demanded Rs 1 lakh from Gajera, to suppress the footage. After negotiations, they extracted Rs 50,000 from him.The revelations in Jetpur follow recent enforcement action by Junagadh Taluka police, who arrested Ajay Jadhav (28), Hemant Shekhwa (42) and Vijay Verma (38) on Thursday. Authorities are pursuing the other suspects, identified as Vivek Mehta and Rakesh Pithadiya.According to police records, the gang systematically posed as media personnel and threatened local businesses with environmental enforcement to extract money.In addition to the cases in Jetpur and Junagadh Taluka, another complaint was lodged at A Division police station in Junagadh against Jadhav, Shekhwa and three unidentified accomplices for running similar extortion operations.
