Three arrested for trying to extort from 76-year-old doctor in Mumbai

The accused allegedly posed as members of a Naxalite group and tried to extort a sum of ₹50 lakh from a 76-year-old doctor in Mumbai

Unit 12 of the Mumbai crime branch on Friday evening arrested three people, including a 21-year-old woman, who allegedly posed as members of a naxalite group and tried to extort a sum of ₹50 lakh from a 76-year-old doctor.

According to the police the three had used a letterhead with the words Lal Salaam to threaten and extort money from a doctor who owns a clinic in Goregaon (East), Mumbai.

According to the police the three had used a letterhead with the words Lal Salaam to threaten Dr Wadilal Shah, who owns a clinic in Goregaon (East). The arrested trio, identified as Hayat Shah, 50, Vikrant Sirat, 45, resident of Virar and Baisakhi Wishwas, a resident of Ghansoli in Navi Mumbai, had planned the extortion for the past one week. To learn the skill of extortion, the three had searched YouTube videos.

Police officers said that Hayat was Shah’s patient for two decades and perhaps knew how much he earned.

“Hayat and Sirat are estate agents and knew each other. The two came up with the plan and enrolled Wishwas to deliver the letter,” said an officer from crime branch.

On September 15, Wishwas visited the doctor’s clinic in disguise of a woman patient, wearing a burkha, and dropped the letter addressed to the doctor at a medical store next to his clinic. Due to several patients waiting in line, the doctor accepted the letter but did not open it till he reached home.

Police officers said that on opening the letter he saw that there was a red mark on it with words saying that they would kill him and his son if he did not pay them ₹50 lakhs.

After reading the letter in the evening, the doctor approached police and reported the incident. The first thing that the police did was to scan the CCTV footages of the areas where the burkha clad woman walked. The officers then saw Wishwas removing her burkha and showing her face kilometres away from the clinic.

Based on her phone location, the officers arrested Wishwas from Ghansoli. Wishwas then gave up the names and addresses of the other two accused who were arrested on Friday night.