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Ludhiana trader’s former employee, aide held for extortion bid
The accused made a threatening call to the Ludhiana-based trader posing as members of notorious gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s group and demanded ₹30 lakh
Police have arrested the former employee of a hosiery trader for threatening him and attempting to extort money. An aide was also arrested in connection with the case.
The accused, identified as Jatinder Kumar of Salem Tabri and Harmel Singh of Jalandhar, had made a threatening call to the trader posing as members of notorious gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s group and demanded ₹30 lakh from him. Police have also recovered the mobile phone used for making the phone call.
Jatinder used to work for the trader, identified as Vishant Jain of New Surya Vihar, Humbran. Jain has a business office in Veer Nagar.
Giving out details, deputy commissioner of police (DCP, investigation) Varinder Singh Brar said Jatinder had quit working for the complainant around two years ago and began working as a street vendor. After falling into financial distress, however, he decided to extort money from his former employer and enlisted Harmel Singh to help with the extortion bid.
“They were aware about the extortion calls being made by the other miscreants and decided to threaten Vishant Jain in the name of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi for extortion. Harmel Singh used his own mobile phone to make an extortion call,” the DCP added.
The accused threatened the complainant by posing as a close associate of Bishnoi.
“The accused threatened him that he would harm his family members if he did not give him money. After Jain made a complaint, the police lodged an FIR and initiated investigation,” the DCP said.
Additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP, city 1) Rupinder Kaur Sra said the complainant grew suspicious after overhearing someone instructing the caller during the extortion phone call. Police were able to trace the caller and arrested him on Sunday.
Notably, Harmel Singh is already facing trial in cases related to snatching, theft, drugs and liquor smuggling.
In wake of the case, commissioner of police Mandeep Singh Sidhu cautioned the public against miscreants attempting to disturb the law-and-order situation in the state by threatening the people while posing as gang members and warned of strict action against the same.
