Five members of a gang have been arrested for kidnapping a 50-year-old man to demand a ransom of Rs 1 lakh in north-east Delhi’s Sonia Vihar late on Sunday.
The victim was trapped with the help of a female member of the gang, who lured him with prostitution. Two of the gang members posed as mediapersons and carried ID cards and microphones of news channels, police said.
The arrested accused have been identified as Rizwan, 23, Rohit, 26, Gulzar, 30, Harun, 47, and Saleem, 35. According to police, they had kidnapped Sonia Vihar-resident Rajinder Gupta. At 1 am on Monday, Rajinder’s son Pradeep and son-in-law Anil had reported the matter with Khajoori Khas police station.
Rajinder was missing since he went to their iron fabrication shop on Sunday. At 11.30 pm, Rajinder called Anil and asked him to arrange Rs 1 lakh for his safe release. When Anil enquired, Rajinder informed that the money should be arranged immediately. On Anil’s statement, a case was registered with Khajoori Khas police station.
“The kidnappers claimed to have made a video of Rajinder and threatened to trap him in a rape case,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-East) Veenu Bansal. It is alleged that Rajinder was filmed with a female member of the gang and threatened with uploading the video on the Internet.
During investigation, family members were examined and suspects were interrogated. Rajinder’s mobile number was also put on surveillance.
“Later, the kidnappers contacted Rajinder’s family members for delivery of the amount. Accordingly, Anil along with a police team reached there and a trap was laid,” Bansal added.
After some time, a kidnapper came at the agreed location to collect the money and was overpowered by the police team. He was identified as Rizwan. On interrogation, Rizwan told police that he was a member of a gang that lured victims and extorted money through female members. A raid was conducted and four more members of the gang were nabbed.
“Their modus operandi is that women will invite clients at their house for immoral activities. When the client reaches the pre-decided place, other members of the gang take their video in objectionable positions,” Bansal said.
The gang then blackmailed the victims and also pretended to be mediapersons. Rajinder was also trapped with the help of a female member of the gang. “Raids are being conducted to arrest the remaining gang members,” Bansal said.