JOIN USA 27-year-old man working as a contractual employee in Tihar Jail has been arrested for allegedly helping an undertrial prisoner to extort Rs 50,000 from a Ghaziabad-based businessman, police said on Tuesday.
Arun Kumar, a resident of Mukund Vihar in Karawal Nagar, worked as a compounder at the jail’s dispensary. He had collected the extortion money from the businessman on behalf of the prisoner.
“The money was collected on the directions of inmate Amit Shukla,” said Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, deputy commissioner of police (special cell). At least Rs 44,000 have been recovered from Arun’s house, and he has been sent to judicial custody.
Arun told police that he also bought a cellphone and a SIM card for Amit, which were used for making extortion calls.
Yadav said the arrest came after a tip-off that gangsters lodged in the jail were orchestrating criminal activities through their associates. A probe revealed that Amit had called businessman Rajender Saraf on a cellphone, and asked him to pay Rs 50,000, failing which he would be implicated in a criminal case.
On January 24, Rajender filed a complaint with the Delhi Police crime branch over threat calls he got. The case was then transferred to the special cell for investigation.
“The next day, however, fearing for his life, Rajender acted on Amit’s directions and gave Rs 50,000 to Arun,” Yadav added.
Two days later, Arun was arrested in Mukund Vihar. He told police that he had taken the extortion money on Amit’s behalf only on the basis of friendship. “Arun had been working as a compounder at the jail’s dispensary for four years. During this time, he came in contact with Amit, who befriended him,” Yadav said.
Arun told police that he got a call from Amit on January 25, who gave him Rajender’s cellphone number, and asked him to collect the money.