Two arrested for trying to extort Rs 60 lakh from Panchkula builder

PANCHKULA: Two out of three accused persons involved in the Panchkula builder extortion case were arrested on Saturday.
A city-based builder received an extortion call of Rs 60 lakh on his WhatsApp on February 4.
Deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Kamaldeep Goyal said, "The arrested accused has been identified as Ayaz Ali, 25, a resident of Nazibabad, Bijnore district in Uttar Pradesh. He is also the mastermind of the case and has been working as a painter in Delhi from past 1.5 years. He used to earlier work as a painter with his father in Manimajra, Chandigarh. The other accused has been identified as Sachin, 20, a resident of Rajasthan."
The DCP said both the accused met on a Facebook page 'SOPU'.
According to the police, the FB page has mobile numbers of all prominent personalities of the Tricity. The accused took the mobile number of the victim, Devdutt Verma, a resident of Sector 20, Panchkula. Verma works as a builder in Mohali, Phase VII.
Both the accused also follow the Facebook page of gangster Sukha Kahlon. The gangster's photo is the display picture on their WhatsApp number. The two accused connected on FB in 2018 and met twice in Gurgaon at a friend's birthday party.
While explaining the modus operandi, the DCP also stated that the accused connected with a person named Vishal, a resident of Karnal, and they used his voice having Haryanvi touch to send a voice message of extortion to the builder. The accused Vishal is yet to be arrested by the police.
The accused have confessed to the police of the crime and during the preliminary investigation, they told the police that they had booked a room at a private hotel in Zirakpur and all three of them gathered there and made an extortion call to the victim.
The DCP said, "The accused were arrested from Zirakpur by the CIA team while working with the technical team of the police. We will seek four-day police remand from the court on Sunday and try to recover the phone used in the crime."
All three accused have been booked under Sections 384 (punishment for extortion) and 387 (putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion) of the Indian Penal Code at Sector 20 police station.
The Panchkula police have registered a zero FIR when the Mohali police refused to register a case. The police sent the zero FIR to the police station concerned and when the Mohali police failed to entertain the case, Panchkula police worked on it and nabbed the culprits.
"Till now, no previous record of the accused has come to the fore. The investigation is underway," said the CIA officials.