According to the V P Road police, under whose jurisdiction the incident took place, the imposters accosted a businessman and demanded a `donation' of Rs 1 lakh for a function on the occasion of Shiv Jayanti. The men flashed letter-pads which had the Sena party insignia on them, police said. The four told the businessman that they were organising a cricket tournament, a `rangoli' contest and some indoor games on the occasion. They even tried to lure him into donating money by assuring him of attractive prizes, police added.

The businessman, whose name has been withheld, told the police that he grew suspicious when the men told him he was entitled to tax exemptions under the provisions of Income Tax regulations if he donated money for their cause.

The police were tipped off, and when two of the four men again came to the businessman's shop todemand money, one of them, Hiten Chiplunkar, was nabbed red-handed. However, his associate managed to escape. The other three men were later arrested after the police interrogated Chiplunkar, and they have been identified as Deepak Shigwan, Rajendra Narvekar and Sachin Gandhi.

The accused told the police that this was their first attempt at extortion. The Sena declared that none of these four persons were in any way associated with the party.