Bihar man’s YouTube channel didn’t take off. He tries extortion, arrested: Cops

The Rohtas police said the suspect bought a SIM card issued on the identity documents of a rickshaw puller for ₹500 and started sending extortion messages to three local businessmen

SASARAM: A young man in Bihar’s Rohtas district who allegedly tried to extort ₹12 lakh from three local businessmen over the past month was arrested by the district police on Saturday, police said.

Rohtas SP Ashish Bharti said Vishal Kumar was arrested from a room on a tip received by the police on Saturday (Twitter/RohtasPolice)

The man, identified by the police as Vishal Kumar, told the police that he didn’t have a job and that a YouTube channel that he started wasn’t doing very well, Rohtas superintendent of police Ashish Bharti said.

The senior officer said apart from three mobile phones, a pistol, two magazines and four live rounds of ammunition were also seized from Vishal Kumar’s possession.

The Rohtas SP said the Bikramganj police registered an extortion case earlier this month after a businessman received demands over WhatsApp for money, threatening to kill him if the amount is not paid. A special team was formed to track down the suspect.

But the mobile phone used to send the message was mostly switched off.

On Saturday, the police allegedly received a tip-off at about 5:20pm on Saturday that an armed man was in a room on the first floor of a clinic on the Bikramganj-Sasaram road. A police team immediately reached the place and caught Kumar. A countrymade pistol and ammunition were also seized from him.

During interrogation, Kumar allegedly told the police that he turned to extortion to make money when his YouTube channel didn’t take off. He said it cost him ₹500 to get a SIM card issued on the identity documents of a rickshaw puller.

The SP said it became difficult for the police to track his movements because he switched off the phone that was used to send the extortion message.