Extortionist poses as Chhota Rajan; held

The accused, one of whom worked as a technical medical assistant at Safdarjung Hospital and another is a management post-graduate, were earlier involved in a similar case in Gujarat.

A 25-year-old man posing as underworld don Chhota Rajan has been arrested for allegedly attempting to extort Rs.15 lakh from a businessman in North-West Delhi. Two of his accomplices have been arrested as well.

The accused, one of whom worked as a technical medical assistant at Safdarjung Hospital and another is a management post-graduate, were earlier involved in a similar case in Gujarat.

The police received a complaint from a Pitampura resident alleging that he had been receiving extortion calls from “Chhota Rajan,” demanding Rs.15 lakh as protection money. The caller and his accomplices threatened to kill his son if he reported the matter to the police.

Accordingly, a team was formed to pursue the leads and mobile phones of the suspects were put under electronic surveillance. The police also verified antecedents of the businessman’s employees and zeroed in on former employee Manjoor Khan (25). Based on mobile phone records, a team was then dispatched to Gopalganj in Bihar, close to India-Nepal border.

Following negotiations, the callers fixed Tuesday evening for receiving the first instalment of Rs.6 lakh from the businessman. He was asked to make the payment near Safdarjung Hospital, where the policemen in plainclothes were deployed in advance.

“The person who turned up to receive the amount was arrested. He was identified as Mohammad Asif (27), who belongs to Samastipur in Bihar. Subsequently, another accused named Ranvijay Rao (27), who is from Deoria in Uttar Pradesh, was also arrested at Kidwai Nagar,” said a police officer.

Acting on their instance, the police laid a trap for alleged mastermind Manjoor who — unaware of the developments — reached IFFCO metro station in neighbouring Gurgaon to collect the extorted amount from his accomplices and was arrested on Friday. During interrogation, the accused disclosed that they were involved in a similar case at Vadodara in Gujarat.

Accused Manjoor, who also belongs to Bihar, had allegedly planned to extort money from the businessman in connivance with his accomplices Ranvijay, Asif and his childhood friend Satender.

Ranvijay, an MBA, was allegedly roped in through Satender. Asif is pursuing his post-graduation in science and also worked as a technical assistant at Safdarjung Hospital, the police said, adding that a hunt has been launched for Satender.