BENGALURU: Had their plan worked out, they would have been richer by Rs 10 crore. Instead, two unemployed youth landed in jail for blackmailing an astrologer in a bid to extort money from him.
Venkatesh B, 24, of Mathikere and G
Vivek, 22, of Mysuru's Saraswatipuram were arrested by
Yeshwantpur police on Friday while they were collecting money from astrologer
Ganesh Dixit, also a resident of Mathikere, who had told cops he was being blackmailed.
Venkatesh and Vivek pursued electrical engineering at the same private college in Mysuru and were unemployed. According to police, Venkatesh, a neighbour of Ganesh, had seen politicians visiting his house. Ganesh, who also runs a temple, has many politicians as clients.
"Venkatesh hatched a plan to extort money from Ganesh and roped in Vivek. They purchased sim cards by submitting a
fake address proof on April 25 and began to call Ganesh. They introduced themselves as I-T officials who had information about politicians, including a former CM, parking money with Ganesh, and said they had arrived in Bengaluru on specific information," police said.
The duo told Ganesh the department had decided to raid his properties and offered him a way out if he was willing to pay Rs 10 crore. Suspecting something amiss, Ganesh contacted police on April 26.
DCP (north)
Chetan Singh Rathor advised Ganesh to bargain with his blackmailers and after multiple calls, it was decided that he would pay Rs 5 lakh. The duo then summoned Ganesh to JP Park and asked him to leave the cash under a stone bench. "Ganesh entered the park carrying a black bag around 8pm on Friday, placed it under the bench and walked out. The duo walked in about 25 minutes later but didn't go directly to the bench. After a stroll in the park, they finally went to collect the bag and we arrested them," the police said.
Representative Image