Man arrested for extortion in city
A 42- year- old man was arrested for allegedly attempting to extort money from the victims using international phone numbers and posing as an officer of the sales tax department, the police said on Friday.
The arrested accused was identified as Naval Kishore, a resident of west Delhi's Hari Nagar.
Three persons had been receiving text messages and videos on their WhatsApp from an international number with the sender claiming to be an official of the sales tax department. To establish his credentials, the sender also sent images and videos of government files.
The sender claimed that the complainants had committed tax irregularities by misdeclaration and not paying taxes. And started demanding a large amount of money from them to "settle" the issue,” the police said.
The police zeroed down on the location of the suspect. It was found that the suspect was active in west Delhi's Hari Nagar area and finally Kishore was arrested.
During interrogation, he confessed his involvement in the crime and was subsequently arrested. Later, the phone along with the SIM used in the crime was recovered.
The application used for creating an international WhatsApp number was found on the recovered mobile phone. Besides, various incriminating details were also found in the mobile phone.
It was found that the accused and the complainants had a business connection. One of the complainants is the owner of a firm that manufactures snacks and the remaining two along with the accused were distributors, said Alok Kumar, joint commissioner of police ( Crime).
Till a few years ago, Kishore was a "super stockist" and had a handsome sale, but after he was made a distributor, his turnover reduced.
So to take revenge and earn quick money, he hatched this conspiracy, Kumar said. He created an international WhatsApp number by using an online application to extort money.
Kishore has done MBA in marketing and had good cyber knowledge. He is also well- versed with the latest gadgets and tech. He is addicted to gambling and had suffered huge losses in business in the past two years and is in dire need of money, Kumar said.