Bid to extort Rs 20 lakh from housewife in Pimpri

PUNE: The Pimpri police are searching for an unknown person who threatened and tried to extort money from a 51-year-old homemaker on Saturday.
The woman received the threatening message in the afternoon, and immediately approached the Pimpri police to file a complaint.
“We have registered the case under sections 384 (extortion), 385, 387 (putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion) of the Indian Penal Code,” senior inspector Rupali Bobade of the Pimpri police told TOI.
Bobade said the complainant is a resident of Pimpri and lives with her husband and children. Her husband runs a business.
“On Saturday, she received a message from an unknown number stating that a person had given ‘a contract’ to eliminate her family. It said that if she wants to save them, she should arrange Rs 20 lakh by Sunday night,” Bobade said. An officer from the Pimpri Chinchwad crime branch said that the police have sought the help of the cyber cell to trace the mobile number. “Our probe is on,” the officer added.
Experts have advised citizens not to pick up calls from unknown numbers.