A husband-wife duo was arrested in Kerala for attempting to extort ₹30 crore from the owner of an IT company in Kochi's Infopark, police said on Tuesday, adding that the couple was threatening to tarnish the man's reputation with a false rape case.
The first accused, Swetha Babu, had earlier worked at the company but resigned, news agency PTI quoted police as saying, adding that her husband Krishna Raj spread rumours that she had an illicit relationship with the IT company's owner.
They then allegedly warned they would lodge a rape complaint against him unless he paid them, police added.
On July 23, the couple met company staff -- including two employees and a director -- at a hotel. They allegedly demanded ₹30 crore, asking for ₹10 crore to be transferred immediately into Krishna Raj's account, and the rest in two cheques," the PTI report quoted police.
They allegedly threatened that if the demand was not met, the company would suffer huge losses.
Over the next few days, the accused allegedly withdrew ₹50,000 from the IT company owner's account and also managed to obtain a cheque worth ₹20 crore from the company's director, police said.
{{/usCountry}}Over the next few days, the accused allegedly withdrew ₹50,000 from the IT company owner's account and also managed to obtain a cheque worth ₹20 crore from the company's director, police said.
{{/usCountry}}On the basis of a complaint, Kochi central police launched an investigation under the direction of Deputy Commissioner of Police Juwanapadi Mahesh.
A team led by Central ACP Siby Tom arrested the couple and recovered the ₹20 crore cheque leaf and agreement papers from them, police said.
Gurugram extortion case
In an unrelated incident, Gurugram police arrested a man for allegedly extorting money from a person by threatening to implicate his father in a false case, an official said on Monday, according to PTI.
The accused has been identified as Chandan Jha, a native of Araria district in Bihar.
The matter came to light when Jha's neighbour lodged a complaint at Sector 10 police station on July 23.
According to the complaint, Jha told his neighbour that his father had allegedly misbehaved with his daughter and threatened him that if he didn't pay ₹1 lakh, he would shame the family.
Out of fear, the neighbour gave him ₹1 lakh. However, when on July 25, Jha again demanded money, this time ₹3 lakh, the complainant told the police.