An alleged extortionist who targeted businessmen and doctors in Delhi and neighbouring Faridabad was arrested by the Delhi Police on Saturday. The accused sent letters to the victims through couriers demanding huge sums of money from them.
“Accused Ashok Suri used to extort money to repay losses he had incurred in his business sometime ago. His modus operandi was to target only people whose financial worth was known to him,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav.
He would, through letters, direct the victim to place the money at a particular place from where he would later collect it, added Mr. Yadav.
The case came to light after a number of businessmen in parts of North Delhi and Faridabad started getting extortion letters with life threats. On September 24, an Azadpur-based businessman received a threat letter and was asked to pay Rs.40 lakh. Similarly, other businessmen in Moti Nagar, Model Town and Faridabad started getting threat letters.
He was finally tracked down to Model Town by a joint team comprising Crime Branch sleuths led by Deputy Commissioner of Police Kumar Gyanesh and arrested on November 23.
During interrogation, the accused purportedly told the police that he ran an electrical goods shop in Basai Darapur, dealing in fans manufactured locally. He suffered losses in the business, as the sale of locally made fans had gone down.
