Two held for extorting money from cops
THE DUO, ONE OF WHOM IS AN ILLITERATE AND THE OTHER A TENTH CLASS DROPOUT, OPERATED ACROSS DELHI TO EXTORT MONEY FROM POLICE OFFICERS
NEW DELHI: Two men who ran an extortion racket by blackmailing police officers have been arrested.
The duo had put spy cameras on their helmets and while paying fines, they recorded videos of the police officers taking the fine.
The two edited the videos and retained the part where the cops were seen taking the money. They used it later to blackmail the traffic officers while threatening to release it online.
DCP East Omvir Singh said the two men, one of whom is an illiterate and the other a tenth class drop-out, operated across the city to extort money from police officers.
Shahrukh Abbash, 24 and Ranjeet Mourya, 33, were arrested after traffic police officers in Mandawli filed a complaint alleging there were extortion demands from a person who claimed to have recordings of the officers taking money.
Explaining their modus operandi, the duo told police that they regularly drove commercial vehicles in no entry, illegal parking zone or drove on the wrong side to get attention of police officers. DCP Singh explained that when the two would be pulled up by a traffic cop and issued a fine, their associates would record the moment they took the money and tamper with the video. The two would then threaten to release the video on social networking site and harass them.
“They would demand money from police officials after showing the video and threaten to give it to news channels or vigilance department,” said Singh.
Police is checking if the two harassed MCD employees. “They are a team of six-seven members. Sometimes they posed as media persons as well,” said Singh.