The Hindu : New Delhi News : Two held for extortion bid

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 11, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Two held for extortion bid

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JUNE 10. A 23-year-old insurance agent and another man described as his accomplice have been arrested by the North-East Delhi police for allegedly trying to extort money from one of his clients by threatening him with dire consequences over the phone. The accused knew the victim and had apparently planned to extort a huge sum to repay his debts.

According to the police, a furniture dealer of Shahdara approached the police on June 4 saying that somebody had been calling up his residence threatening to wipe out his family if he did not pay up Rs. 5 lakhs. The caller also threatened to kidnap his school-going children. A case was registered at the Shahdara police station and investigations taken up.

The police managed to trace the number of the mobile phone from which the calls were made and also the person who had sold that particular mobile phone set. He told the police that he had sold the set to one Amit Kumar Gautam, a resident of Sahibabad in Uttar Pradesh.

Amit was rounded up and following interrogation he allegedly confessed to having threatened the businessman. He also revealed the name of his associate, Deepak Kaushik, a resident of Dilshad Garden in North-East Delhi, who was subsequently arrested. The police also recovered the mobile phone used for threatening the victim.

Interrogation revealed that Amit was an insurance agent employed with New India Insurance Company and had earlier insured the victim's family. He had also visited the victim's house several times and was well acquainted with them. Recently, Amit came under heavy debt and decided to extort money from the businessman to repay his debt. He roped in his friend Deepak, who too was unemployed and in need of money.

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