Gurugram crime: 30-year-old held for extorting ₹20K a month from cleaning staff

The police on Tuesday arrested a 30-year-old man for allegedly trying to extort ₹20,000 per month from at least 10 car cleaners working at a society in Sector 67 and threatening to brutally assault them if they did not pay. The police said that the man also regularly called them to threaten them

The police on Tuesday arrested a 30-year-old man for allegedly trying to extort ₹20,000 per month from at least 10 car cleaners working at a society in Sector 67 and threatening to brutally assault them if they did not pay. The police said that the man also regularly called them to threaten them.

The police said during questioning, they found that the suspect had picked up the SIM card from a local market in Sector 10 and started making extortion calls to car cleaners. (Representative image)

The suspect was identified as Gaurav alias Rahul of village Bar Gujjar in Manesar. He was arrested from Sector 31 market when he was having dinner. The suspect was sent to 14-day judicial custody on Wednesday, said police.

The police said they were able to zero in on the suspect, upon realising that the suspect was using the SIM card of a woman who had approached the Sector 10 police on September 5 to complain about her lost SIM.

Preet Pal Sangwan, the assistant commissioner of police (crime), said that the car cleaners had also complained to Sector 65 police station regarding the extortion calls. “During investigation, it was revealed that the mobile number used to make extortion calls was the same number that belonged to woman. We tracked the location and arrested the suspect,” he said.

Sangwan said during questioning, they found that the suspect had picked up the SIM card from a local market in Sector 10 and started making calls to car cleaners. “We thought he would not get caught as he was not using his own mobile phone number and got the mobile recharged for three months. The police said that he had extorted money from car cleaners in Manesar area as well but none had complained to the police,” he said.

The police recovered the suspect’s mobile phone and found around 400 cleaners’ contacts. They said he regularly used to harass 28 from the list.