



Thane Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sudhir Barge has been arrested after asking for a ransom from renowned builder Hiranandani. Along with Barge, Shaukat Mulani and Arif Iraqi were found out to be involved in the ransom case and have been accordingly arrested.

Barge is a former Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Corporator. The accused had been elected when he was representing NCP in 2007. Currently, he is associated with BJP.

Six months ago, Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik had informed Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis about an ongoing scandal by Right to Information (RTI) activists at several places in Thane as well as Mumbai. Accordingly, after an inquiry, it was found out that Barge, Mulani and Iraqi were involved in the scandal and were then arrested.

Upon investigation, it was disclosed that the three of them were extorting money from various people by misusing the RTI and blackmailing the respective people. Currently, the police are carrying out a probe upon the matter.