Navi Mumbai: The Joint Police Commissioner of Navi Mumbai has granted prior permission to invoke the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the accused Tribhuvan Lalbihari Singh (47), a resident of Ishwar Nagar, Digha, and his associates. Singh, a
BJP activist, was arrested by Rabale police last month for allegedly extorting Rs 1.3 lakh and demanding Rs 5,000 more from a builder from Digha by obtaining an RTI reply from Cidco, NMMC and MIDC offices and threatening to lodge complaints and get his alleged illegal constructions in Airoli and Digha areas demolished.
Balkrushna Sawant, senior inspector of Rabale, said, “The proposal for seeking to invoke MCOCA against Singh was submitted through the DCP (crime) to the Joint Police Commissioner Deepak Sakore on Oct 12. After reviewing the evidence in the submitted proposal, the criminal background history of Singh for indulging in threats and violence for personal financial gains, the chargesheets filed against him in the court and the activities of the organized crime gang led by Singh, the Joint Police Commissioner granted prior permission to invoke MCOCA against Singh and his associates.” Sawant said Singh was arrested on Sept 29 for
extortion from the Digha builder Jitendra Pratap Singh (52). He was remanded to police custody for six days and later released on bail.
As MCOCA has been invoked against him, he will be arrested again. Another accused in the extortion case identified as Aniket Tribhuvan Singh (23), the son of Singh, is absconding. Sawant continued, “Previously, Tribhuvan was arrested in March 2025 for demanding Rs 10 lakh extortion from a builder Rushabh Gupta (29) from Gothivli, Ghansoli node and accepted Rs 1 lakh installment on his friend’s account and kept demanding remaining amount. In that case, Tribhuvan had complained to Cidco in Dec 2024 claiming illegal construction in Gothivali by Gupta and posted his construction site images on social media. Then, threatened hunger strike if Cidco did not demolish his illegal construction. Thereafter, he demanded the extortion amount for withdrawing the complaint.”
In 2025, Singh was served with a notice of externment from Navi Mumbai for one year. But, he sought reduction in externment period for six months and got approval from zonal DCP. After returning from externment period, he again allegedly indulged in criminal activities. From 2023 till 2026, there are eight criminal cases registered against Singh, including three cases at Rabale MIDC police station and one each at Rabale, Kalwa and Naupada police stations. In 2018, Singh was arrested by Thane Anti-extortion cell, after an FIR of extortion was registered against him at Kalwa police station for allegedly trying to extort Rs 20 lakh from a local doctor by threatening to get his hospital shut down. Singh had filed multiple complaints with civic agencies against the doctor, claiming that his hospital staff was not qualified.
