Angre, currently posted as Deputy Superintendent of Police (special protection unit) in Pune, was once with the anti-extortion cell of the Thane police and is credited with over 30 encounter killings. Angre was produced in Thane court that remanded him to judicial custody till March 6. His bail application will be heard on February 25.

“Ganesh Wagh, a builder based in Thane, had filed a complaint with us that sometime in October, Angre, along with three unidentified persons, barged into his office and assaulted him. Wagh said that Angre wanted him to make his wife a partner in Wagh’s business. In his complaint, Wagh alleged that Angre also forced him to sign on a blank paper and took away two cars — a Scorpio and a Santro — belonging to him. We had registered an offence of extortion and robbery against Angre on October 19 after which he went missing. Angre’s anticipatory bail application was rejected by the Thane sessions court, the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court. Recently, he was declared a proclaimed offender by the court,” said senior police inspector Ganpatroa Madgulkar of Naupada police station.

The tiff between Angre and Wagh was over a land leased for building a Rs 100-crore sports complex in Thane. While Angre claims that his wife Dhanashree is a legal 50 per cent partner in the project, Wagh has complained that he took his signature forcibly.

In December last year, the Bombay High Court had ruled that Angre's custodial interrogation was necessary and had asked him to surrender by December 11. On February 6, in response to Wagh's fresh application seeking to prosecute Angre for contempt of court, he had again been asked to surrender. On December 11 last year, the Thane police had filed an affidavit in the High Court saying Angre was untraceable.

Speaking to mediapersons before his surrender on Friday, Angre said, “MLA Eknath Shinde and a Shiv Sena leader pressurised Wagh to take my wife off the project. This is a political conspiracy hatched against me. Wagh was a very close friend of mine and used to frequent my office.”

When asked why did he not surrender to the police earlier, Angre said, “I was filing a review petition and taking advice from my legal counsels. Because of the allegations, my health was also not good. So I took time to surrender.”

Meanwhile, Shinde refuted the allegations made by Angre. “If I had threatened or pressurised anyone, why was no complaint made against me? I want to ask how can a police officer have so much money to enter into construction business.”