Conman uses Dawood8217;s name for extortion

AHMEDABAD, Jan 23: Apparently influenced by international extortion gangs and their high-profile dons, a repairman used the name and phot...

AHMEDABAD, Jan 23: Apparently influenced by international extortion gangs and their high-profile dons, a repairman used the name and photo of Dubai-based ganglord Dawood Ibrahim to extract Rs 25 lakhs from a businessman in Ahmedabad, before falling into a Crime Branch dragnet.

Rajkumar Mohanlal Parekh, exporter and owner of rolling mills, received, along with a newspaper photo of Ibrahim, a handwritten letter saying, 8220;You have earned a lot of money in export business and therefore, on January 21 evening you will leave a bag full of Rs 25 lakh in the E8217; compartment of First Class coach number 6177 in Anand local train, which leaves Ahmedabad from platform number 4 at 6.30 pm. The currency should be in Rs 500 denomination.8221;

Parekh was further directed to reach Kalupur railway station in his red-coloured Ford and leave as soon as he had placed the cash bag in the stated compartment.

Warning Parekh not to involve the authorities, the letter said, 8220;If you inform the police, you will meet the sameconsequence which T-Series owner Gulshan Kumar suffered. Do not try to act smart, else we will forget the Rs 25 lakh but neither will your business exist nor will anyone of your family be able to run a business. Our men are keeping a watch on your activities and I can bug your phone.8221;

Despite his apprehensions, Parekh approached a Crime Branch officer after two days and showed him the letter. The CB advised Parekh to do as he was told to help trap the extortionist.

Though, as Assistant Commissioner of Police crime Subhash Trivedi said, 8220;We were in a do-we-believe-or-don8217;t-we situation8221;, the police took the matter seriously and sent a plainclothes team 8212; comprising Inspector K C Chudasma, sub-inspectors C N Rajpoot and V K Jhala 8212; to follow Parekh as he boarded the train.

Parekh, as instructed, left a bag in the E8217; compartment of the train at the prescribed time. At Anand, the police noticed a passenger behaving suspiciously. He picked up the bag and tried to leave the compartment, but wasdetained immediately. A thorough interrogation revealed that the extortionist was Pradeep Kumar alias B B Ramlubhaya Shukla, with two addresses: one in Chandkheda and the other at Nadiad, where his wife has a job. He hails from UP and his father was in the army.

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About five years ago, he visited Parekh8217;s house to carry out some repairs and was apparently impressed by its opulence. For the past few months, Shukla was reportedly in dire straits financially, and hatched a plan after observing that the train in question 8212; he used it to commute 8212; was unoccupied most days. The police said they were trying to find out if he had any underworld connections.