3 held for extorting trader to ‘settle’ rape case

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Sunday said they had arrested three persons, i ncluding a 30-year-old man, for allegedly extorting ₹5 crore from a Delhi businessman to settle a ‘rape’ case against him that was filed in Rajsthan in April this year.

The two arrested men were identified as Mohit Goel and his relative Vikas, who runs a restrobar lounge in West Delhi’s Punjabi Bagh.

The arrested woman worked in the same lounge, said police.

Deputy commissioner of police (northwest) Aslam Khan said they were verifying whether Goel was one of the directors of a Noida-based company that had announced smartphones at a price of Rs 251.

“Goel is a resident of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. We are verifying his antecedents. He was part of the racket that was extorting money from the businessman on the pretext of withdrawing the rape case,” said Khan, said the extortionists had already extorted ₹1 crore from the businessman.

The DCP said the complainant, who is the brother of the businessman, had approached the Netaji Subhash Place police to complain that some people were trying to extort money from his brother. A police team was formed and a plan was made to jab the extortionists redhanded.

The team learnt that despite taking ₹1 crore, the racketeers had not given any written assurance pertaining to the withdrawal of the rape case.

As per the plan, the businessman told the racketeers that he would pay the second installment of ₹90 lakh only when the complainant in the rape case gives him a written affidavit, saying the allegations she had made were false and pre-motovated.

On Sunday evening, DCP Khan, Goel, Vikas and the woman arrived at the businessman’s office in Netaji Subhash Place. As the woman had given him the written assurance, the police team caught them, said the DCP.