MUMBAI, Oct. 24 -- A businessman's arrest in a 2017 extortion case was illegal and marked an abuse of police powers in alleged collusion with a developer, the Bombay high court ruled on Thursday, directing the Maharashtra government to pay him Rs.5 lakh in compensation within two weeks. A division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Kamal Khata also called for strict action, including the immediate suspension of the police sub-inspector and other officers concerned. The case dates back to August 4, 2017, when Bipin Satish Chandra Agarwal was arrested after developers of New Aarti Co-operative Housing Society in Andheri East accused him of extortion. The society was undergoing redevelopment, and Agarwal was negotiating with the developer on behalf of his mother-in-law, who owned a flat there. Agarwal told the court that he had negotiated the sale of a flat for approximately Rs.1.64 crore. The developers allegedly handed him Rs.2 lakh as an advance at their office that day. Soon after he received the money, police arrived, and took him to police station. He secured bail from the sessions court, and subsequently challenged the legality of his arrest before the high court. The bench said it was a "classic case" of a police sub-inspector exploiting his position and using the police machinery to advance the developer's interests....