25 days after being robbed, ₹10 lakh extortion bid on Ludhiana trader

In the extortion bid, the accused had threatened to kill the family of trader; the same people had robbed the victim 25 day ago

Twenty-five days after a trader was assaulted and robbed of ₹80,000, yet another extortion bid for ₹10 lakh was made on him.

The accused had admitted that they had robbed the trader of ₹80,000 near Sherpur on August 28 as they knew that the accused always carried a lot of cash with him. Later, they decided to carry out an extortion bid. (HT Photo)

Threatening to murder him and his family, unless he complied, the accused asked, the complainant, Rakesh Kumar, to come to the Giaspura cremation ground with ₹10 lakh cash.

Swinging into action, the police arrested Amandeep Verma and Pankaj Yadav of Giaspura, and Vijay Pratap of Guru Ramdas Colony. A .32 bore pistol, two bullets, two sharp-edged weapons and a scooter were recovered from their possession.

Joint commissioner of police (JCP, rural) Sachin Gupta said the accused were arrested from Giaspura, and a case had been registered against them under 384 (extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (acts done by several persons) of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Arms Act against the accused.

The accused admitted that they had robbed the trader of ₹80,000 near Sherpur on August 28 as they knew that the accused always carried a lot of cash with him. The extortion call had been made using a snatched mobile phone.

They also confessed to robbing a Nepalese man of ₹5,000, and a mobile phone, and to three other snatchings.