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Soumya Vishwanathan murder convict, others held for threatening, attack on businessman
New Delhi:
New Delhi:
A R1-crore payment dispute between two Delhi-based business partners angered one of them so much that he allegedly hired seven criminals, including TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan murder convict Amit Shukla who is lodged in Tihar jail, to threaten his partner and extort R2.5 crore, police said on Monday.
On February 23, three of the alleged criminals —at the behest of Shukla and his inmate, Naveen Dabas—went to the second-floor flat of the businessman in central Delhi’s Rajendra Nagar and opened fire as soon as he opened the door. One attacker fired three bullets, injuring the businessman and his 12-year-old nephew, police said.
The other assailant filmed the shooting on his cellphone as a proof that their job was successful. The 28-second video released by police show someone holding a gun and firing at the businessman and his nephew.
After the firing, the trio walked out of the building, sat on a scooter and fled without resistance. The injured persons were admitted to a private hospital from where the police were informed.
The police learnt about the extortion bid when the businessman said he had been receiving threat WhatsApp calls demanding R2.5 crore as extortion since January from a man who introduced himself as a “notorious criminal”. The businessman never informed police about it, deputy commissioner of police (central) Sanjay Bhatia said.
On Monday, the police said they had arrested the jailed gangsters, the businessman, Abhay Arora, who wanted revenge on his partner by extorting R2.5 crore, the three attackers – Varun Vashisht, Nitesh Phore and Ankit – and two others, identified as Lakhan Verma and Sushil alias Sillu. One pistol with three cartridges, the scooter and five cellphones were used in the crime, DCP Bhatia said.
Bhatia said the complainant (injured businessman) runs banquet halls in Punjab’s Chandigarh and Ludhiana. Arora was his business partner but the two split after a dispute. Arora claimed his partner owed R1 crore to him and was not paying up despite repeated demands.
Arora then sought the help of Lakhan Verma, who roped in his brother-in-law Sushil alias Sillu, a criminal from Delhi’s Pul Prahladpur having nexus with jailed gangsters, including Amit Shukla, a life convict in the murder cases of Vishwanathan and IT executive Jigisha Ghosh .
Both Vishwanathan and Ghosh were killed by the same set of criminals between September 2008 and March 2009, police said.
A meeting was held between Arora and Sushil and a deal was finalised that the criminals would take 20% of the extortion money, R2.5 crore. Sushil informed Shukla and Naveen Dabas, closes aide of jailed gangster Neeraj Bawana, about the job and they asked Vashisht, Phore and Ankit to execute it, an investigator said.
“The trio made extortion calls to the businessman through WhatsApp and recorded them. They forwarded the calls on cellphones Shukla and Dabas had been using in the jail. The duo forwarded them to Sillu who sent the recordings to Arora to update him about the job,” said DCP Bhatia.
Vashisht, Phore and Ankit opened fire at the businessman on February 23. Arora was the first to be arrested. His cellphone had voice recordings of Shukla and Dabas sent by Verma. Arora’s interrogation led to the arrest of the other five, Bhatia said.
“After obtaining permission from court, Shukla and Dabas were arrested in Tihar Jail. Videos of the firing and recee of the complainant’s house were recovered from the cellphones of the arrested men,” he added.
