Ghaziabad: Three people, including a woman, were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly trying to extort Rs 10 crore from a businessman in Indirapuram. The accused told the victim they were members of the Sundar Bhati gang and threatened to kidnap and kill the victim’s son if he did not pay them protection money.DCP (city) Dhawal Jaiswal said that on April 11, Arpit Gupta submitted a complaint to the Ghaziabad police commissioner alleging that an individual had contacted him through an unknown number, identifying themselves as a member of the Sundar Bhati gang, and demanded Rs 10 crore, threatening his family if he failed to comply. The crime branch’s SWAT team investigated the complaint and found it to be legitimate.“An FIR was subsequently registered under Section 308(5) (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt) of BNS. The three accused were arrested in the case on Wednesday,” the DCP said.The accused were identified as Ravindra Singh (39), alias Robbin, a resident of Dadri; Tushar Basoiya (25), a resident of Wave City in Ghaziabad; and Savita Chaudhary (44), also a resident of Wave City.During interrogation, Singh told cops that he works in the property business and knew Gupta, a property dealer, for around three years. Chaudhary, a friend of Singh’s, also works in the business, and Singh arranged for her to work at Gupta’s Noida office around six months ago. Gupta fired Chaudhary 10 days ago, after which she approached Singh and the two began devising a plan to extort money from him.“For this task, he contacted his maternal cousin Tushar Vaishya, who also works in property and has his office in Wave City itself. Tushar subsequently joined their plan, following which Tushar, through his friend Ansh Mittal, arranged a second-hand Redmi multimedia mobile phone,” the DCP said.The accused obtained a SIM card and mobile phone registered in another person’s name and would go to different locations to contact Gupta via WhatsApp calls and messages to threaten him. They threatened him for several days before they were arrested.Police also recovered the phone and SIM card used in the crime. Investigation is underway to determine whether the Sundar Bhati gang had any legitimate connection with the case. Cops are also investigating the role of Ansh Mittal, who provided the mobile phone to the accused, the DCP added.
