Film inspires extortion bid

Inspired by a Rajpal Yadav starrer film, a teenaged electrician demanded Rs 6 lakh ransom from his former tent house employer in south Delhi. However, the 19-year-old failed to succeed in real life and was arrested when he came to collect the money in Moti Bagh.

The accused has been identified as Vinod Gautam, who hails from Uttar Pradesh’s Hardoi district. Around seven months ago, he was working with Diamond Tent House and Caterers in Moti Bagh. “Vinod had hatched a conspiracy after being expelled by tent house owner Praveen Mehta,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) B S Jaiswal.

Vinod used to consume alcohol and abuse colleagues. When Mehta objected to his behaviour, Vinod abused him too. On this, Mehta had expelled him. “Vinod was unemployed for some time and started keeping track on Mehta to teach him a lesson. He was inspired by a movie in which Rajpal Yadav extorted his employer by making ransom calls,” Jaiswal added.

On March 12, Mehta approached South Campus police station reporting that he was getting a call in which the caller introduced himself as ‘Bitto Gujjar’. The caller had threatened to kill shoot Mehta’s son dead and kill other family members if he did not pay ransom amount of Rs 6 lakh.

A case of extortion under Indian Penal Code was registered. After analysing the call details and examining Mehta’s employees, the caller was identified as a resident of Hardoi. “The caller was then contacted and lured to collect the ransom amount from Mehta’s godown,” Jaiswal said.

A police team also kept vigil over the target. As soon as Vinod reached there to collect the money, he was overpowered and arrested.

During interrogation, he initially tried to mislead police, but later broke down and revealed the sequence of events, the officer said.