A team from the crime branch of the Surat police Monday picked up a teenager in Haryana for allegedly making an extortion call to a Surat-based textile trader. The teenager had demanded Rs 5 lakh and claimed to be Lawrence Bishnoi’s gang member 'Sukha Sopu'. The trader, Ketan Chauhan, had filed a complaint at the Varachha police station in Surat Saturday. In his complaint, Chauhan alleged that he received a WhatsApp call from an anonymous number on March 16 and the caller posed as “Sukha Sopu from Lawrence Bishnoi group.” The caller demanded an extortion amount of Rs 5 lakh and threatened to kill the trader within the next 24 hours if his demand was not met. The caller also purportedly sent a text message on WhatsApp. Chauhan shared the incident with his friend Hitesh Italiya. Later, Italiya called up the number and the receiver again claimed to be Sukha Sopu. The complainant later contacted Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) convenor and AAP leader Alpesh Katheriya and filed a police complaint with the help of the latter. Talking to the Indian Express, joint police commissioner Sharad Singhal said: “On the basis of the complaint, our crime branch police worked out technical details and finally we got success. Our team left for Haryana on Sunday and on Monday picked up a teenaged boy who confessed to having made an extortion call to Ketan. The teenager claimed that he is a member of Lawrence Bishnoi gang… and was told to make an extortion call to Ketan Chauhan… We will verify the claim made by the teenager. The teenager is not Sukha Sopu. We have also checked and found that Sukha Sopu was killed in Haryana in 2015.” Katheriya said, “The complainant is not financially strong, and he lives in a rented house… After receiving the call, he contacted me for help. I assured him of all possible help and later took him to Varachha police station and got the complaint registered.” The police have registered a case in the matter under Sections 387 (Putting a person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion), and 507 (Criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication) of the Indian Penal Code.
