Three arrested on extortion charges

The incident took place near Chandkheda bus stand at 9pm on Thursday,when the victim,Bindhu Bhattacharya (53),was passing by the area on his two-wheeler.

Two men,Keyur Shah (20),a resident of Hathijan in rural Ahmedabad,and Harishankar Gupta (32),a resident of Madhavpura,intercepted Bhattacharya,posing as police.

Pointing at their two other accomplices,Mamta Rajput (28) and Anita (25),who were sitting in an autorickshaw,the duo started accusing Bhattacharya of having “misbehaved” with them and demanded a bribe of Rs 1.50 lakh in order to settle the case.

Bhattacharya succumbed to the pressure and agreed to pay Rs 1.30 lakh. The engineer even paid Rs 30,000 to the quartet and promised to pay the remaining amount in two instalments of Rs 50,000 each on Friday and Saturday.

In the meantime,Bhattacharya intimated the Chandkheda police.

“We laid a trap for the accused at the place where the second transaction of Rs 50,000 was to be made. Shah,Gupta and Rajput,who had come to collect the money,were caught red-handed,” Chandkheda police Inspector T S Patel said.

Patel added that the accused have been booked on charges of extortion and personating as policemen. “We are on the lookout for Anita,” he said.