Lawrence Bishnoi’s extortion racket in Chandigarh: Seven booked, three land in police net

While Javed Jhinjha, 24, of Sector 37, was arrested following a tip-off on Tuesday night, Chetan Munjal and Rinku were arrested on the complaint of a hotelier on Wednesday.

Digging deeper into the extortion racket being run in the city by gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, police have booked seven men and arrested three of them.

While Javed Jhinjha, 24, of Sector 37, was arrested following a tip-off on Tuesday night, Chetan Munjal and Rinku were arrested on the complaint of a hotelier on Wednesday.

A country made pistol, along with one live cartridge, was recovered from Javed.

Besides in two FIRs, police have booked Rinku, Javed, Rajesh Paswan, Vikramjeet Singh Kular, Jackie and Deepak Kundu, alias Billa, at the Sector 39 police station, and Chetan at the Sector 36 police station.

According to police, these men were part of a well-organised extortion ring that targeted businessmen, and hotel and bar owners in the city.

Chetan and Rinku were arrested on the complaint of Tinku, who operates a hotel in Kajehri on lease.

Tinku had alleged that the accused had threatened to kill him if he failed to pay them protection money. However, the accused maintained that they loaned some money to Tinku, who was now refusing to clear the debt. The duo will be produced in court Thursday.

Chetan, Rinku and Rajesh were among the men who had fired three rounds following an argument during a during birthday of political secretary to local MP Kirron Kher, Sahdev Salaria, at F Bar in Sector 26 on November 19, 2018. Police have already filed a chargesheet against them.

Rinku was booked again on October 11 at the Sector 39 police station for assaulting a person and playing loud music. The police team had found that during the party social distancing norms and other safety protocols, including wearing of masks, were violated.

Selected targets, made them talk to jailed Bishnoi

As per police, the accused used to make the people, whom they targeted for extortion, talk to Bishnoi, who is lodged in a jail in Rajasthan. They all have past criminal records and have been arrested in a number of cases. How Bishnoi is managing the racket from behind the bars remains under investigation.