21-yr-old student held for trying to extort Rs 1 crore from businessman

A 21-year-old BSc student was arrested late Sunday night for allegedly attempting to extort Rs 1 crore from a Madhya Pradesh-based businessman by threatening to malign his image, the police said,

The victim and the accused, both, hail from Datia district in Madhya Pradesh and were acquaintances because of their line of work, police officers added.

The accused, identified as Nishuraj Yadav, was arrested from Pukhrayan in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, on the basis of technical surveillance and brought to Gurugram later that night, police spokesperson Subhash Boken said.

The police have recovered and seized Yadav’s cellphone and SIM card.

According to the police, the accused, whose family owns trucks that are rented for transporting sand and other construction materials, had made several WhatsApp messages and calls to the victim on July 4, asking him to arrange Rs 1 crore within five days or face defamation.

The victim, who has mining and construction businesses across various locations in the country, was in the city for a fortnight on account of his business and had filed a police complaint at Sector 53 police station on July 5, a day after he received the threats.

The police said that the victim received a WhatsApp message on his phone when he was at a bank on Golf Course Road with an associate. The police said the message allegedly sent by the accused person read, “You have 5 days to arrange Rs 1 crore or I will malign your image”.

The police added that the victim received at least five messages and two WhatsApp calls on the same day. While the messages clearly demanded money, the nature of the conversation over the phone was not known, the police said.

“During questioning, the accused said that he knew that the victim was a rich man who had made a lot of money in the past few years. The victim had contracted the accused’s trucks for transportation. So, he hatched a plan to extort money from him and sent him messages on WhatsApp,” the spokesperson said.

He added hat Yadav oversees his family’s business in Kanpur.

A police officer privy to the investigation, requesting anonymity, said Yadav was arrested after his phone was traced.

“The victim had gone to the bank for credit card-related work when he received the first message on WhatsApp and reported the incident to the police. Probe revealed that the accused had hatched the plan to extort money for himself. He does not have a criminal record,” the officer said.

Yadav, who was booked under Section 385 of the Indian Penal Code at Sector 53 police station, was produced in a city court on Monday and released on bail, the police said.

First Published: Jul 09, 2019 02:39 IST