Pramesh S Jain
In a joint operation carried out by the CCB and Central Division police,busted a gang and arrested a city based businessman and his three associates for making ransom call to another businessman in a bid to extort 1 Crore in the name of Notorious gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
The case was registered at Sheshadripuram Police Station after the trader’s father received a threatening call on July 9,warning that his son would be abducted if the ransom wasn’t paid.
Taking serious note of the complaint,the Bengaluru Police Commissioner formed special teams from the Central Division and the Central Crime Branch (CCB).
While one team tracked local leads,another was dispatched to Uttar Pradesh.
On July 12,police detained a car accessories shop owner from JC Road identified as Rafi (24).
During interrogation,he admitted to orchestrating the extortion plot to settle a business dispute.He had invited three men from Meerut,housed them in Bengaluru and provided them with phones and details of the complainant to carry out the threats.
According to police,the three accused from UP identified as Shishpal Singh (25),Amit Chaudhary (21) and Vash (26)had arrived in Bengaluru nearly three months ago with the sole intention of executing the extortion plan.
The businessman allegedly shared the trader’s photo, address,and business details with the trio to help them issue threats and demand ransom.
The three were arrested from Haripura,Delhi,also on July 12.Police said they were allegedly carrying pistols and bullets when they arrived in the city.
Rafi was remanded to judicial custody on July 13,while the three men from UP were remanded to 10-day police custody on July 14.
Police have so far seized a car and multiple mobile phones.Efforts are ongoing to recover the weapons.
Given the use of firearms and the nature of the conspiracy,the case has been handed over to the CCB for detailed investigation Seemanth Kumar Singh Commissioner of Police Bengaluru City told reporters.
