A businessman from Kerala who was lodged in the Model Jail, Chandigarh, has alleged that a co-accused along with gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s aide, who was in the same barrack, extorted ₹2 lakh from him.
Complainant Philip Jacob along with five others, including Prabhat Thyagi, was arrested by the operation cell of Chandigarh Police in April for illegally dealing in remdesivir injections. After being treated for Covid-19, Jacob was moved to the Model Jail, also known as Burail jail, on May 1. After coming out on bail, he lodged a complaint at the Sector 49 police station on Monday.
Jacob alleged that the extortion demands were initially made by Thyagi, who had been sharing details about Jacob’s business and financial details with other inmates in the barrack.
Later, Lawrence Bishnoi’s aide Ankit Narwal, who was in the same barrack, allegedly threatened to kill Jacob in the jail if he didn’t pay up ₹40 lakh. Thyagi intimidated him further by saying that the Bishnoi gang has more than 6,000 shooters all over India and they would kill him on the date of court hearing, it was alleged.
Narwal had shared the phone number of his brother Vikas with Jacob to make arrangement for the money transfer, stated the complaint. Jacob shared the number with his wife, who contacted Vikas and received details of a bank account in Rohtak. She then transferred ₹1 lakh to the account twice on June 18 and 22. According to sources, the account is in the name of Narwal’s mother Kamla Devi.
{{/usCountry}}Narwal had shared the phone number of his brother Vikas with Jacob to make arrangement for the money transfer, stated the complaint. Jacob shared the number with his wife, who contacted Vikas and received details of a bank account in Rohtak. She then transferred ₹1 lakh to the account twice on June 18 and 22. According to sources, the account is in the name of Narwal’s mother Kamla Devi.
{{/usCountry}}According to the complaint, Jacob was supposed to pay ₹10 lakh while in jail, the remaining ₹30 lakh were to paid after he got out on bail.
Police have registered a case against Narwal and Thyagi under Sections 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
“We will get the custodial remand of the duo on production warrants. Vikas and the account holder will also be questioned, but they are still at large,” said Shruti Arora, assistant superintendent of police (ASP, south).