An extortion racket being run from inside Tihar Central Jail here has been smashed with the arrest of seven persons. Four of those arrested are lodged in Jail No. 8 and are involved in several heinous cases.
A Delhi Police Special Cell team led by Inspector Brahmjeet Singh arrested Sanjeet alias Kokal (22) and Suresh alias Saki (30) following a tip-off when the two came to a property dealer’s office in Pooth Khurd on July 16 and seized a .32 bore pistol, a country-made pistol and seven live cartridges from them. It was revealed during the interrogation that Sanjeet along with Manoj, a notorious criminal involved in several cases of car-jacking, had fired in air outside the office of a businessman in Bawana on April 1 and left behind a note demanding Rs.50 lakh as “protection money”.
Four more persons--Rajesh alias Imran, Rajesh alias Karambir, Amit alias Mittu and Ashok alias Pardhan--were later arrested in this connection. All four are lodged in the Tihar Central Jail. Further investigation revealed that the four accused in the jail had directed Sanjeet, Suresh and Manoj to carry out their plan to extort money from the businessman. The note seeking Rs.50 lakh “protection money” was allegedly handed over by Karambir to Sanjeet and the latter was directed to deliver the photocopy of the note at the businessman’s office.
According to the police, Imran made a call to the businessman threatening him not to identify Sanjeet during the Test Identification Parade on July 22 following which the businessman did not come for it. The police have, however, claimed that they have enough scientific evidence to link the accused to the crime.
Imran, a resident of Nangloi, is involved in several cases of murder, attempt to murder and under the Arms Act. Ashok has been sentenced to life imprisonment in a murder case in Haryana. He is an accomplice of notorious criminal Surender Malik, the police said.
Karambir of Bawana is involved in several cases of murder, attempt to murder, robbery, car-jacking and under the Arms Act. Amit, a resident of Sonepat, belongs to Vijay Boda gang. Sanjeet and Suresh are new entrants to the crime world, the police said.
