Nashik: The crime branch unit 1 of the city police arrested four suspects for allegedly demanding Rs 1.5 crore from a real estate agent, within four hours after a complaint of extortion was lodged, on Saturday. A hunt has been launched for the fifth suspect.Gangapur police identified the suspects as Pankaj Chinchole and Sagar Dighole of Chinchole and Manoj Patil and Manoj Kumbharkar of Panchavati.The foursome was allegedly threatening Changdeo Rambhau Ghumre (64), a resident of D’Souza Colony, from September 30 to January 18 to pay the above-mentioned amount to them, said police.Soon after a complaint was lodged, crime branch unit 1 personnel, on instructions from police commissioner Ravinder Kumar Singal, swung into action and nabbed the suspects. Senior officers of the crime branch said the suspects first met Ghumre at his residence on November 30 last year on the pretext of purchasing land in some area and demanded money from him, but the complainant said he was busy and would meet them later.A few days later, the suspects called him near a hospital and took him to a restaurant at Chandsi, where they took Rs 2 lakh from him. They demanded Rs 1.5 crore from him, saying that they knew he had earned Rs 5 crore from a property deal. The suspects allegedly threatened to kill his son if he failed to pay the cash.Over the next few weeks, the suspects kept calling Ghumre asking him to arrange the money at the earliest or see his son dead. On January 9, the agent again got a call from the suspects who set a deadline of January 19, following which he approached police.

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