Gurugram Police bust int'l extortion racket, four held

Gurugram, Aug 20

Four members of an international extortion racket have been arrested in Gurugram, the police said on Saturday.

During investigation, the police found that the victims had received threats and extortion calls demanding Rs 5 lakh in the name of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi on July 30 from multiple phone numbers belonging to Pakistan and Dubai.

The accused have been identified as Hrithik (19), Gulshan (20), Bunty Kumar (24) and Sandeep alias Sandy (20).

After receiving tip-offs about the criminals, the crime branch of Sohna Sadar police station, led by sub-inspector Satya Prakash, nabbed Hrithik and Gulshan on August 13 while Bunty and Sandeep were arrested on August 19.

A total of 99 ATM cards, 62 SIM cards, 23 mobile phones and one bank passbook have been seized from them, the police said.

As per complainant Ashok Kumar, a property dealer from Sohna, he received extortion calls on WhatsApp on July 30 on behalf of Lawrence Bishnoi, wherein the caller demanded Rs 5 lakh and warned him of dire consequences if he failed to pay the amount.

While disclosing their modus operandi, ACP Preet Pal Sangwan said: "These culprits enticed a Bihar-based man with Rs 25,000 and convinced him to open bank accounts and keep all the documents (passbook/cheque book/ATM card/ATM pin/net banking) with them, after which they bought fake SIM cards to operate these accounts.

"During interrogation, the police found that Pakistan and Dubai-based members of the gang, through whom the threats and extortion calls were routed, used to target businessmen and financially capable persons through their other associates.

"After receiving the money, the accused would transfer it to different bank accounts using net banking and withdraw cash from ATMs," Sangwan said.

"The culprits, after deducting their commission of 10 per cent, would transfer the remaining amount to their other accomplices, who transferred the amount to their associates in Dubai and Pakistan," Sangwan added.