PROPERTY DEALER, AIDE ARRESTED FOR EXTORTION

NEWDELHI: A property dealer and his associate were arrested on Sunday for allegedly threatening a businessman and trying to extort ₹50 lakh in northwest Delhi’s Netaji Subhash Place. Police said the two were also involved in threatening another businessman from Nangloi earlier this year.

The arrested men were identified as Himanshu Jain, a property dealer from Nangloi, and Manoj Meena, who worked at Jain’s office. A mobile phone along with SIM card that the two man allegedly used to make the extortion calls were seized from them.

Deputy commissioner of police (north-west) Aslam Khan said a businessman, who runs a plastic items manufacturing factory in Delhi, approached the Subhash Place police on August 19 and filed a complaint about alleged threats and extortion attempts.

The businessman, whose identity has been withheld by the police, told investigators he had been frequently receiving calls from different unknown numbers since August 16. He said two different men were making such calls.

“The callers used to intimidate the businessman by saying that they knew everything about his family members and their daily routines and would kill them if the money was not paid,” DCP Khan said.

A case was registered on his complaint and the district’s special staff was tasked to identify the alleged extortionists.

“Our teams eventually identified the suspects through technical surveillance. On Sunday, we caught the two men,” DCP Khan said, adding that their probe revealed that a businessman in Nangloi had been receiving similar calls in February. The Nangloi businessman was also asked to pay ₹50 lakh.