Cops arrest man for extortion

Accused threatened bizman, demanded `10L as protection money

The Delhi police has arrested a man for threatening and demanding `10 lakh as an extortion amount from a businessman in Seemapuri area of Shahdara district on Tuesday.

Sonu Khan, who works as a sofa maker and is a resident of Shaheed Nagar in Ghaziabad, was arrested by Seemapuri police station. He had demanded `10 lakh as protection money from a businessman.

According to police, complainant Raja Khan, who owns an interior decoration office in Dilshad Colony, had received threat calls from an unknown number. The caller demanded protection

The businessman received threat calls from an unknown number, demanding protection money He avoided the calls but on May 23, the accused visited the bizman’s office and threatened him at gunpoint

money from him to work peacefully in the area. Mr Khan initially avoided these calls. But on May 23, a man, who introduced himself as Sonu Khan, visited Mr Khan’s office along with his two accomplices. The extortionist demanded `10 lakh as protection money and threatened him of dire consequences if he failed to arrange the same. Mr Khan asked them for more time to arrange the said amount. It was only then that Sonu and his accomplices left his office.

Mr Khan reported the matter at Seemapuri police station along with the CCTV footage from his office.

In the footage, a man was seen pointing a pistol at Mr Khan. A case under Sections 340 (wrongful confinement) and 387 (putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion) of the IPC and under relevant sections of the Arms Act was registered.

“We scanned CCTV footage and rounded up the noted bad characters of the district to identify the man seen in the video. On June 28, a police team arrested the extortionist from his house in Ghaziabad,” said a senior police official.

“We have recovered the pistol, which was used to threaten the complainant, from the possession of the arrested accused. Sonu disclosed that along with his associates, namely Salman and Deepak, he went to the office of Raja Khan to extort money from him. They will also be arrested soon,” said Nupur Prasad, DCP, Shahdara district.

Ms Prasad added that they are going through records to find out if Sonu was involved in any criminal activities in the past.