Four held for extortion in Delhi

New Delhi: Four men were arrested here for allegedly attempting to extort Rs 1.5 crore from a factory owner, police said on Monday.

The arrested have been identified as Dinesh, Faishal Hassan, Manoj Kumar and Vijay, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-West) P Karunakaran said. Vijay was a former employee of the complainant Sanjeev Kanwar. The arrests came following a complaint filed by Kanwar, a resident of Ashok Vihar, on April 6 that he received a call demanding Rs one crore, which was later increased by another Rs 50 lakh. When Kanwar told them that he could not pay the amount, he was told that he would be killed. Police collected details about employees and business associates and after technical surveillance, a raid was conducted. Dinesh was picked up for questioning during which he told police that he along with his three associates planned extort money from Kanwar, Karunakaran said. It was Vijay who suggested that Kanwar could be targetted. "Manoj arranged a SIM card from Jind in Haryana. The accused made extortion calls from outside the borders of Delhi so that police could not get a clue. They got the idea of extorting money from a rich businessman from Hindi movies to become rich over night," Karunalaran said. PTI