An elaborate plan to extort Rs 10 crore from a Gurgaon-based builder and implicate someone else for the crime was foiled with the arrest of two men.
The code word adopted by the extortionists was “Allah ka banda kaun hai (who is Allah’s man)”.
The two suspects tried to lay the blame on a man who was friends with a divorced woman Rani (name changed), who had been rebuffing their own advances.
They sent ransom letters in his name. They also sent obscene videos and text messages to her. Her employer also got messages, making derogatory allegations against her and accusing her male friend of being her pimp.
One of the two suspects Kamal Rana had worked from 2005 to 2009 in the computer department of the JMD Group, owned by builder Sunil Bedi.
Police said Rana is currently unemployed and the idea to extort the money from Sunil Bedi struck him after he learnt that the builder had paid a heavy ransom to get himself and his son released from abductors in Gurgaon two years ago.
Rana and his accomplice Lalit Narang sent extortion letters through speed post from Safdarjung Airport post office. They demanded the Rs 10 crore in two equal instalments.
Bedi was directed to arrive with the first instalment at ISBT Sarai Kale Khan on February 24 and give a missed call on a particular mobile phone number, police said.
The extortionist identified himself as Ramesh (name changed) in the letters. It later turned out that Ramesh was Rani’s boyfriend.
The extortionists viewed Ramesh as a hurdle in their attempts to get close to Rani. Hence, the plan to implicate him while making away with the extorted money, said police.
Bedi, meanwhile, decided not to oblige the extortionists and instead approached police at south Delhi’s Greater Kailash. A technical surveillance was launched and the two suspects nabbed on Saturday.
Police claimed they have confessed to their crime and have said they procured several SIM cards on fake identities in a bid to extort the money from Bedi, implicate Sanjay and defame Rani.
