The Nandini Layout police have arrested four members of a family, including two women, for allegedly extorting ₹73 lakh from a businessman in an elaborate scam. According to the police, one of the accused, Rani, even faked her death and used her daughter to demand an additional ₹65 lakh from the victim.
Along with Rani, the police have arrested her daughter Niveditha, 23, son-in-law Manigandan, 27, and his brother Prasad Murthy 26. Around 60 gms of gold, ₹11.17 lakh in cash, two cars and a fake FIR have been recovered from them.
“Rani knew the victim, a caterer from Bengaluru named Krishna Das. She approached him for a personal loan. When she realised that he was well-off, she decided to extort money from him, and hatched an elaborate plan with her family members,” said the police.
In November, she called Das to her house in Kodigehalli to return the loan. While the two were together, Manigandan and Murthy raided the house pretending to be policemen and threatened to arrest Das. He offered ₹17 lakh to them in exchange for his freedom.
In September, the two men called Das again. They informed him that Rani has been murdered and they would be booking him as an accused in the case. “They convinced him to give them ₹36 lakh to make the case ‘go away’. Das pledged his house to raise the money. However, the gang was not done with him,” said a police officer.
They hatched another plan. This time around, Niveditha called Das and said she was planning to approach the women’s commission to file a complaint accusing him of murdering his mother. Das convinced her not to do so in return for ₹20 lakh.
The family’s luck ran out when they asked for an additional ₹65 lakh to close the case. “The accused told Das that they had to bribe their seniors and judges, and had even prepared a report to make it look like a closure report,” the officer added.
Worried about raising this additional sum, Das approached the police, and that’s when he realised he had been conned.
All four have been booked for extortion, blackmail, criminal intimidation and other sections of the Indian Penal Code. They were remanded in judicial custody.