Extortionists8217; gang busted

LUDHIANA, July 27: With the arrest of two youth Rashid alias Shameer and Som Veer, both residents of Dandiali Khera village in Saharanpur...

LUDHIANA, July 27: With the arrest of two youth Rashid alias Shameer and Som Veer, both residents of Dandiali Khera village in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, the police claimed to have busted a gang of extortionists responsible for writing threatening letters to at least three business houses in the city to extort money during the last few days, though with no success.

While the accused were being interrogated, the recovery of more than 2 kg of explosive material used for making improvised explosive devices IED from their possession has thrown open the possibility of the criminals having links with ISI recruited Muslim ultras, who were responsible for series of bomb blasts in Delhi and other places in Haryana in 1996 and 1997.

SSP Dinkar Gupta while addressing a news conference here today revealed that a businessman in Chaura Bazar had received a letter last week saying a bomb had been planted in his son8217;s room which could be detonated with the help of a remote control.

The shopkeeper was further threatened that not only his showroom would be blown up but his only8217; son would also be killed if he failed to pay the ransom of Rs 10 lakh to the gang on a specified date, time and place. The businessman was also warned against intimating the police.

As the businessman chose to ignore the two letters he received on July 24 and 25, he received yet another one on July 26 in which he was asked to leave the bag containing the ransom money in a dust bin lying near Domoria Bridge in the early hours this morning.

As the third letter had last warning8217; boldly superscribed on it, the businessman reported the matter to the police. According to the SSP, the police led by SP D Kanwaljit Singh and Balbir Singh, SHO Kotwali laid a trap and caught one of the accused who was trying to remove the bag from the dust bin. On a tip off provided by him, the other member of the gang was also arrested and among other things, a bag carrying explosives was seized from their rented house in Chhawni Mohalla.

Gupta said during preliminary investigation, the main accused Rashid had admitted having written similar letter to at least two other persons one of them a cloth merchant and the other a bontique-owner, where Rashid, a tailor specialising in women dresses, had worked for some time. The earlier demands made by them were for Rs 5 lakh and Rs 50,000 respectively.

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The duo were booked under sections of IPC and the Explosives Act.

Meanwhile, under stepped up campaign against anti-social elements in the city, a police party headed by Joginder Singh, SHO Salem Tabri has arrested ten persons under the Gambling Act and Rs 73,000 was recovered from them.