E-Paper
Muscleman, 15 aides booked for extortion attempt
The complainant also alleged that he did not get any help from police and, thus, had to seek the court’s help.
Police have booked a muscleman and 15 of his aides for trying to extort ₹50 lakh from a druggist in Lucknow. The move came after a court directed the Wazirganj police in the city to take appropriate action in the case.
Allegedly, the muscleman, Adarsh Srivastava aka Arshad Husain, and his men had earlier threatened Zama Husain, who runs a pharmacy in Chowk, to pay ₹5 lakh.
The complainant also alleged that he did not get any help from police and, thus, had to seek the court’s help.
As per reports, Zama runs his shop at a commercial complex with his partners, and Adarsh wanted to usurp the vacant portion of the complex.
Zama allegedly faced Adarsh’s ire in February 2022 when he was asked to pay ₹20,000 per month as ‘goonda tax’ and ₹5 lakh as extortion money or else he would be shot. “I was unable to pay ₹5 lakh to them so they started reailsing ₹1,700 per day from me, which I gave them from August 2022 to September 2023,” he said in his complaint.
The complainant said on October 18, 2023, Adarsh and his men reached the complex and attempted to grab the vacant land in the complex. “I stopped giving them the extortion money... They came to my shop when I was going to close it on January 31 2024, and started abusing me. They demanded ₹50 lakh as extortion money and another ₹1.5 lakh per month from me. They threatened to kill me and set my shop afire,” the complainant alleged.
