Bakery owner in Gurugram asked to pay Rs. 50L by most wanted gangster

The police booked an unidentified person for allegedly demanding protection money from a 50-year-old owner of a bakery on Old Railway Road on Thursday. According to the police, the suspect identified himself as wanted gangster Kaushal, who is suspected to be in Dubai, and demanded Rs. 50 lakh.

Police commissioner Muhammad Akil said that the shop owner received the extortion threat in a voice message on WhatsApp at 4.20pm on Thursday. “The suspect generated an international phone number through the internet to send the audio clip to him. We have not ruled out the involvement of Kaushal, but we are suspecting some miscreant has called using the gangster’s name. We have received strong leads and will arrest the accused soon,” he said. The name of the owner has been withheld on his request.

The police said they received a complaint on Thursday from the man, who runs a chain of bakeries. He alleged that he received a WhatsApp audio from an unknown number from Thailand, from a person who introduced himself as Kaushal. The sender allegedly asked for Rs. 50 lakh and threatened his life. The suspect also allegedly threatened to harm his business if he approached the police. The duration of the audio recording was one minute, the police said.

Akil said they are trying to track the location of the phone number used to send the audio. During a preliminary investigation, it was found that the number was not based in India.

The complainant told the police he did not check the audio recording for two hours as he was busy at work. He had earlier also received many threatening calls from alleged gangsters. “We suspect that he might be paying protection money to one of the gangsters, who is out on bail,” said Akil.

On December 13, 2017, a man, suspected to be a henchman of a jailed gangster, had fired at the cashier of the same bakery at Sector 4/7 intersection on Old Railway Road. Before shooting, he handed over a written note demanding that the cashier pay protection money of Rs. 50 lakh.

The police said on January 9 last year that they had arrested three persons for allegedly orchestrating an attack at one of the bakeries and they were history-sheeters, allied with gangster Ashok Rathi, who is currently lodged in Jhajjar jail.

“The complainant has requested us to provide him security, as he fears the caller might attack him or his family members if he does not pay the money,” Akil said.

The police said the victim had received three threats last year as well, of five, two and one minute(s).

A case was registered under sections 387 (extortion) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at New Colony police station.

The police said they are also looking at the involvement of an insider and questioned the shop owner’s staff on Friday morning. They are keeping a close watch on visitors.

Two police teams, in civil dress, are deployed near the bakery, the police said.

In several past incidents of extortion involving traders and businessmen, members affiliated with gangster Kaushal had been involved, the police said. In June, the police had arrested the close aides and live-in partner of Kaushal for their alleged involvement in extortions. The police had received several complaints from businessmen and traders that Kaushal was threatening them and demanding protection money. The money collected by the gang members was sent to Kaushal through hawala transactions, the police had stated.

Kaushal, the kingpin of the gang, is on the run and believed to be in Dubai, the police said. His gang has been active in Gurugram for over a decade.

First Published: Aug 09, 2019 20:14 IST