Bomb blackmail lands man in police net

Bluffmaster

A 37-year-old man has been arrested for using a crude bomb to frighten and attempt to extort money from a businessman in the national capital, the Delhi Police said on Saturday.

Gyanender Kumar, who runs a DVD rental service in Pitampura area of north west Delhi, wanted to capitalise on the recent terror attack on an Israeli embassy car, said Romil Baaniya, additional deputy commissioner of police (north west).

Baaniya said that the victim, Parmod Jain, a resident of Kapil Vihar, had complained about Gyanendra’s threats to the police.

Jain told police that on February 15, he and his family were on their way to attend a family function when he heard an explosion at the rear of his car, a Hyudai Verna.

“Initially, Jain thought that it was a fire cracker thrown by a child and did not report the matter. But next day, he received a call followed by some SMSes from an unknown number. The caller demanded extortion money of Rs 5 crore,” Baaniya said.

Gyanender had also sent Jain a text message which read that he could harm him and his family. Subsequently, Jain reported the incident to the Subhash Place police, who registered a case under sections 384 (extortion) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

Investigations revealed that the number was bought on a fake ID and had been operational since May 2011.

The police also found that the number was being used by Gyanender.  Police arrested Gyanender and seized from him a register containing addresses to which he had supplied DVDs, raw potassium sulphide and a crude bomb.

The list contained the address of Jain.  Police said that during interrogation, Gyanender told them he supplied DVDs on rent in Pitampura and was a regular supplier to the Jain household.

“In this process, he came to know that the family is into business and are financially well off and, therefore, he planned to extort them. He later procured potassium sulphide and prepared two crude bombs,” Baaniya said, adding that the bomb would explode when thrown with force against an object.

Gyanender is also learnt to have told police that he had followed Jain’s car on his motor-cycle on Wednesday evening.

When he reached Lok Vihar, he threw the crude bomb at the back of the bumper of Jain’s car. This explosion caused a loud noise, smoke and damaged the rear side of the car,” Baaniya added.

Baaniya further said that Gyanender has no criminal background, but wanted to extort money from Jain.