Noida: Seven arrested for blackmailing man

Noida: The police on Thursday arrested seven persons for allegedly blackmailing a man from Muradnagar in Ghaziabad. The suspects were identified as Matin, Rashid, Imran, Ashraf, Shabnam, Wakil and his wife Roshan – all in the age group of 30-40 years. The victim, Nusrat Ali, 30, is a resident of Kakrala village in Phase 2.

Ankur Aggarwal, additional deputy commissioner of police, Noida Central, said that on January 14, Nusrat’s brother Toshif Ali had filed a complaint at the Phase 2 police station stating that his brother had received a call from someone a day before. “Nusrat had left his house in a car Wednesday evening but did not return home. Later at night, the family received a call from a woman – later identified as Roshan – demanding ₹2 lakh and threatening to file fake rape case against Nusrat if the demand were not met,” he said.

The police registered a case against unknown persons under Section 342 (wrongful consignment), Section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), and Section 389 (putting person in fear of accusation of offence, in order to commit extortion) of IPC.

“Initially we suspected that this was a case of abduction. We sent a police team as decoy relatives of the victim in plain clothes. The team also carried some cash to lure the suspects into negotiation. The team reached spot and some of the suspects came there. When they saw the cash, they believed we were family members of the victim. They took us to the room where the victim was held hostage. The team then swung into action and nabbed all seven suspects from the spot,” said Anita Chauhan, SHO, Phase 2 police station.

The police recovered three mobile phones allegedly used in the crime, ₹20,000 in cash and the victim’s car.

Nusrat told the police that he had allegedly received a call from Roshan, upon which he came to Muradnagar Wednesday evening. “Roshan went to a room with the victim and got close. At the same time, the other suspects recorded them in mobile phones and started blackmailing him for money,” said the SHO.

Police said that it appears the gang had allegedly been operational for the last six months. “We are investigating their crime records. The suspects were produced in court and sent to judicial custody,” said Chauhan.