3 demand ransom for missing persons,held

The three accused,identified as Vikram Khanna,Mahesh and Mool Chand,were arrested after they allegedly tried to extort money from a Mumbai-based businessman pretending to have kidnapped his missing mother.

Khanna,son of a former soldier,was convicted for life in 1998 in a murder case and had jumped parole.

“They scanned for advertisements in newspapers regarding missing persons and then contacted family members for a ransom amount. Their arrests came following investigations into a complaint filed by Navi Mumbai-based businessman Abhimanyu Bhalla who said he had received a call from one Rajesh Kapoor on June 13,who demanded Rs one lakh for the release of his mother Suman Bhalla,who was missing,” Northwest Deputy Commissioner of Police,N S Bundela said.

Bhalla told the police that he was asked to come to Delhi on June 14. Once he reached the Capital,he informed the cops and a case was registered at Ashok Vihar,Bundela said.

The accused then asked Bhalla to meet them at the Kashmere Gate Metro Station for the exchange of money and his ‘kidnapped mother’ on June 15.

The police,however,arrested Mool Chand,who had come to collect the money from Bhalla.

Following Chand’s interrogation,police tried to arrest the other two accused,but they had already fled. On June 24,the police received information that Khanna and Mahesh were near Kanhaiya Nagar Metro Station,from where the two were arrested.

“During investigation Khanna said he read in newspapers that Suman Bhalla was missing. He immediately hatched a conspiracy with his associates to extort money from her family,” DCP Bundela said.

Khanna is reportedly involved in 17 cases of burglaries and extortion.

In 1990,he along with another associate had murdered a person while committing a burglary in Kotla Mubarakpur,the police said. He fled from police custody in 1993 but was caught in 1995. Once again,he fled from the custody in 1996,but was arrested 12 days later.

In 1998,a city court awarded Khanna life imprisonment in the murder case. Three years later,another case was registered against him in Rajinder Nagar as he wrote a letter from jail to extort money after reading in the newspaper about a missing person.

Khanna was on parole for one month,from February 19,on the pretext of selecting a girl for marriage,which was extended till April 30. Later,he jumped parole.

His associates,Mahesh and Mool Chand,are involved in about nine criminal cases between them.